14 DAY TRIAL // Reality star and tabloid fixture Tila Tequila is stepping forward to speak of a very personal and distressing problem she’s been dealing with for years: she has an eating disorder, she says in an interview with Radar Online.
The diminutive star has issues dealing with stress and negative emotions, so, whenever a situation calls for them, her relationship with food takes a serious hit.
However, she’s not anorexic, she says for the publication. On the contrary, she’s too thin and constantly trying to gain weight, but she can’t.
“I too, have am eating disorder. But not because I want to be skinny, but because I want to gain weight and can’t,” Tila reveals for the aforementioned publication.
When her life is turned upside down by stress, her problem becomes even more apparent.
“When I’m happy and healthy and stress free, I eat better and maintain a healthy weight and my body stays in great shape and my face is fuller and plump. It looks good on me. However, lately, I have lost a lot of weight and am now down to only 87 pounds,” she says.
So, her entire adult life has been a struggle to gain some weight, marked by failure, she notes. At 4’11” and 87 pounds, she is immediately below a healthy weight, Radar points out.
Nevertheless, Tila underlines that her problem is very serious – nothing to joke about, as it does severe damage to her body image.
“I’ve battled with this eating disorder my whole life... I put pressure on myself to constantly eat, but once I put pressure on myself, that’s when eating is no longer a ‘natural’ thing to do for me and ironically becomes the opposite. I then lose my appetite and lose my weight,” she says.
“[My body] makes me feel self-conscious about myself and that is also the pressure to look good in Hollywood. I want to gain weight but it's so hard for me,” the reality star laments.