Spice Girls star Mel C has candidly detailed her dark battle with anorexia and how it led to her feeling suicidal.
The Sporty Spice singer, 48, says issues over her weight began back in the summer of 1994, when the band were still called Touch.
Mel claims comments over her thighs being too big led to her developing a fear of carbs and fat - and soon eliminated food groups to live off a diet of just fruit and vegetables for a few years.
"I was quite unwell for a few years, when I look back, I don’t know physically how I did it; when you consider how little I lived on and how much exercise I was doing alongside a brutal schedule", Melanie reveals.
Mel says her periods stopped as a result of depriving herself from essential nutrients, spiralling into depression.
It was when the band split in 2000 that the songstress said she hit rock bottom, turning to binge drinking and eating.
"I would eat cereal and bread to the point of sedation, I would binge until I was unconscious. I never, ever made myself sick, but I tried. I felt so disgusting", she writes in her new autobiography Who I Am, shared with the Daily Mail.
"I was embarrassed and ashamed of it. I had to keep it a secret because even though you’re in denial about it, there’s still that tiny little voice going: 'This isn’t right, you can’t continue like this'."
Mel said while she didn't want to face her demons, she was 'afraid' of 'the alternative' was admitting she was worried of going so 'far down that road' she would take her own life.
It is this time, that the Wannabe hitmaker sought professional help.
Mel was diagnosed with depression, anorexia, binge-eating disorder, anxiety and agoraphobia and was put on anti-depressants, with her recovery taking years.
"We are f***ing warriors, you know?’ she says. "Sometimes when I think of what I have done and what I now deal with every day; with work, with being a mum, with family stuff. And I’m like, f**k, I’m still standing."
- For help and support on eating disorders contact Beat Eating Disorders on 0808 801 0677.
