Melanie Chisholm has opened up about her struggle with anorexia and revealed how the British tabloid press had a devastating impact on her self-esteem.
The 48-year-old former Spice Girl said she subsisted on a diet of fruits and vegetables, while exercising for hours at a time to stay slim.
“Having an eating disorder can make you feel so alone and so isolated,” she told The Sunday Times in a new interview.
Chisholm, who is also known as Mel C or Sporty Spice, said she kept her anorexia a secret but it took away her joy during her time in the famous girl group.
She pointed to the tabloid media’s coverage of her appearance, and headlines that called her various names, including “Sumo Spice”.
“The tabloid media has really impacted my self-esteem, the way I feel about myself, my talent, my place on this planet,” she said.
“They go, ‘Oh, you asked for it’, and it’s like, no, nobody asks for that.”
Chisholm, who still performs and DJs around the world, has spoken candidly about her eating disorder in the past.
She was also diagnosed with depression at the height of Spice Girls’ fame in the 1990s and has said she was lucky to survive.
Appearing in a 2007 ITV documentary titled The Truth About Size Zero, Chisholm revealed she considered dying by suicide due to the pressure to lose weight.
Today, she said that the body positivity movement has improved things for women but slammed “certain publications” for continuing “the obsession with how women look”.
“They just can’t seem to help themselves commenting on somebody’s ‘ample assets’ or ‘flaunting this’. And it’s like, ‘f*** off. It just seems so not of this time to speak like that,” she added.
In 2019, Chisholm revealed that she banned people from discussing diets around her daughter, 13-year-old Scarlet Starr, following her own battle with anorexia.
At the time, Scarlet was 10 years old and Chisholm said she noticed her daughter was becoming “more conscious of the way she looks”.
She told Women’s Health: “I didn’t ever allow people to speak about diets in our house.
“I think one of the positives of having gone through an eating disorder is that I’m very conscious of how I speak around her.
“That positive language – it’s a habit now,” she added.
For anyone struggling with the issues raised in this piece, eating disorder charity Beat’s helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677. You can visit their website here.
NCFED offers information, resources and counselling for those suffering from eating disorders, as well as their support networks. They can be reached by phone on 845 838 2040 or their website here.
