AI Judge Kara DioGuardi Talks Secret Eating Disorder

When songwriter and producer Kara DioGuardi came on “American Idol” as a judge, fans and the media believed she was there to gradually shut Paula Abdul out of the panel of judges. Time showed that this was not the case. Time also showed that whatever DioGuardi did, she did not have to do it perfectly, as she obsessed when she was younger, as the star reveals in an interview with Extra.

The 38-year-old star, whose resume includes extremely successful collaborations with Celine Dion, Hillary Duff, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Pink and even Paula Abdul herself, is just now coming to terms with her past eating disorder. It’s not so much that she starved herself or made herself sick to vomit, Kara reveals, but that she would binge eat and use food for comfort, which amounted to a clearly unhealthy relationship with food.

“I’ve never spoken about this. I had kind of a binge eating disorder where, instead of dealing with my emotions, I would stuff them down with food.” DioGuardi says. “I never threw up or starved myself. [But] it was definitely that excess eating to kind of just stuff all the emotions down. I really was a creative kid who didn’t know she was creative and didn’t have those outlets because I was always afraid to join the theater group and not perform.” the brunette beauty says for the aforementioned media outlets.

However, when she realized she had a problem and that it was serious, she sought professional help, and thus learned to deal with her emotions instead of trying to make them go away with food. Another thing that helped her cope with her disorder was going into music and learning it was truly her passion, DioGuardi says in the same interview. “The moment I started doing music, the moment I did what I loved to do in my life and committed to it, I don’t have those problems anymore. I have my outlet. I have that form of expression. I can go to the studio and talk about my feelings.” she explains.

Suffering from such a disorder only makes it easier for DioGuardi to relate better with all the young aspiring singers she sees on “American Idol,” especially the women. They, just like her once, also believe they have to be perfect all the time, which is not only impossible but also absurd to believe it’s possible. “I had this craziness in my head that I had to be perfect all the time and I face it now on Idol 25 years later. It’s kind of like, ‘Oh god, why did I say that? Why did I do this?’ But I made this commitment in my life to face my fears and if I am afraid of something, I make sure I do it.” Kara concludes by saying.