Celebrity Spokespersons Eating Disorders

Our society has set a very high standard of how someone is expected to look. Turn on the radio, pick up a magazine, and you will see that there is a great deal of pressure to be thin. This terrible turn of events drives many people to develop eating disorders.

Fortunately, now more than ever, celebrities are speaking out about the horrors of eating disorders. Hopefully, with this spread awareness, our society can work on changing some of its preconceived notions a bit.

Among those that have been making a stand:

Mary-Kate Olsen has been open with discussing her battles with anorexia. She as recently been seeking treatment.

Christina Ricci, who has struggled with anorexia for close to ten years, admitted to Jane magazine she gleaned tips about staying thin from a movie-of-the-week dealing with former Growing Pains star Tracey Gold's anorexia. "It taught me what to do," she said.

Others who have spoken out about their battles with eating disorders include Partridge Family and L.A. Law star Susan Dey and The Sopranos's Jamie-Lynn DiScala, who is a spokesperson for the National Eating Disorders Association.

Men are not immune to the pressures of staying thin. Billy Bob Thornton has been open about his own weight issues. In the mid-1990s, Billy Bob dropped 59 lbs before friends intervened.

So do not be afraid to be yourself!

Click here to view eating disorders resources for more information.