14 DAY TRIAL // The other day, Dr. Drew Pinsky, who has made a very solid reputation for himself in television for helping people battle all kinds of addictions, went on the record with his daughter’s 7-year struggle with eating disorders. Paulina Pinsky too is speaking up on the topic now.
Certain readers might know that she’s been talking about it for the past few months, but on a much smaller scale, through posts on various blogs. Now that her story has gone viral, and her father admitted to it in a TV interview, she’s using the platform to raise awareness on the problem.
Paulina was a competitive skater and that, from the start, generated some issues with her, in the sense that she always had to make sure not to gain weight. Her mother also put incredible pressure on her to stay slim, even though she probably never realized it.
At her worst, Paulina tells Entertainment Tonight (see the video embedded below for that) she was purging 8 times a day. It was also then when she realized it was time she asked for help, when she realized she had a very serious, life-threatening problem.
That was over a year ago.
Today, Paulina is campaigning for more openness on the topic of eating disorders, which, in turn, would encourage other men and women in this situation to come forward sooner than she did, she explains for Shine Yahoo!.
“I’m speaking now because eating disorders are so stigmatized and I want people to feel comfortable opening up. I felt a lot of anger towards my mother but opening up with her has helped me let go of that. Being angry was not helping the problem, and honestly it was exhausting,” she says, referring to how her mother reacted when she told her she’d been purging. “Get your teeth checked” was her response.
“And I think it's always good to remember that your parents have your best interest in mind, even though it is a hard situation. Being honest with my parents has been one of the healthiest and freeing things I've ever done, and it has allowed me to grow and move on with my life,” Paulina continues.
As for any questions people might have about how Dr. Drew, the world-famous specialist, couldn’t see that his own daughter was hurting herself, Paulina says it’s “the very nature of disorders to be secretive.”
“My parents cannot be blamed for not seeing what I couldn’t see in myself. Had they known, they would have immediately gotten me help,” she says.
Experts agree: while keeping such a secret for 7 years is rare, it’s not unheard of. Only parents who know which signs they’re to keep an eye out for actually realize there’s something wrong with their kids.