Tess Holliday has recently said that the weight bias played a key role in her late anorexia diagnosis.
In an exclusive clip from Tamron Hall, the 36-year-old said, “When you think of the term anorexia, you associate it with emaciated bodies. I had no idea that it could be me.”
The plus-size model was diagnosed with anorexia in 2021 after taking time to explore her relationship with food.
She said, “During the pandemic, it caused me to slow down — like it did most of us — and I started really examining how I was feeding my body or the lack thereof.”
Holliday realized that she needed help so she started working closely with a dietician.
She said, “When I reached out to her, I thought that I was overeating, I thought that I was binge eating. About five months into our [virtual] sessions, she said, ‘I can’t diagnose you properly, but if I could I would diagnose you as anorexia nervosa.’”
“I was sitting on the kitchen counter and I remember her saying it and I just laughed,” Holiday recalled. “I went, ‘No, look at me — I’m fat.’”
Holliday was left to process confusing emotions after realizing her diagnosis.
She said, “I just was flooded with all kinds of feelings. If I would have known that this was a possibility, I could have gotten help sooner. If there wasn’t so much weight-bias stigma in the medical industry, someone could have helped me before I got to his point.”
Since then, the LA-based makeup artist has been open about her recovery, updating fans on Instagram about her successes as well as the occasional “intrusive thought” that comes to her mind.
Holliday said in a recent Instagram caption, “Of course I have a hard time feeding my body. I literally have been told my entire life that I don’t deserve to feed my body.”
“Like, everyone in my life has always said, ‘Are you sure you want to eat that?’ ‘Don’t eat that.’ That’s just been constant, from the moment that I was plus size, which was 11,” she added. “When you have been told your entire life that you don’t deserve to feed your body and you are taught to restrict food to not be ‘fat,’ of course you struggle with feeding your body.”
