Beginning at the age of 17, Katharine McPhee, American Idol runner-up, struggled with bulimia for 6 years. After her successful audition in San Francisco in August 2005, she decided it was time to get some help. She then spent three months at LA's Eating Disorder Center, going through therapy and treatment for six days a week. McPhee said, "I entered the program because I wanted to give myself the best shot I possibly could on the show."Katharine says American Idol had saved her life because she looked for help out of fear that the vomiting from her bulimia was damaging her vocal cords. She believes that if she didn't audition for the show, she never would have sought help and would still be struggling.
McPhee's illness started in her high school years. She says she was always concerned about her appearance and remembers starving herself and exercising to an extreme. "I was binging my whole life away for days at a time."
Katharine took the stage in her quest to become the next "American Idol" as she went up against eventual winner Taylor Hicks in the finale.
Shortly after the show, she hinted that she had dealt with body issues. "As women, we should not be starving. We should be feeding our bodies and our souls and there is a way to have a healthy body and not have to diet, not have to restrict yourself from food. As soon as you tell me I can't have this chocolate bar, I'm going to want it. I had a lot of fear foods – foods that I would binge on and stuff like that."
But, it turns our her problem was bigger than she would admit. Only a few months before the show, Katharine was literally destroying her vocal cords by purging. She had a very rough time with bulimia, throwing up up to seven times a day. Right before starting American Idol, she went in for treatment for bulimia, which she said she'd been battling for five years.
McPhee last binged two weeks before entering LA's Eating Disorder Center, yet she still managed to drop 30 pounds throughout the Idol process. "You start doing something you love doing and the weight just started falling off me. I was still eating," McPhee said. "It was a really amazing thing that happened with me and my body has just been kind of falling to its natural state and I don't know if it's finished going where it wants, but it's doing its thing."
A healthier and happier Katharine said she likes her new role as an idol to young girls. "I love being a role model. I think it's great."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/06/22/bulimia.mcphee/index.html
http://www.caringonline.com/eatdis/celebrities_k.html#Katharine
6 comments:
Good job Dhivani. Way to bring out the bad in my wife, lol just kidding.
woah, i never knew that. she did well in american idol despite her condition. good post.
I've heard about this before. It's good that it didn't effect her singing skills. Good Job.
i am glad things turned out well for her before her whole life was destroyed
Wow, I never knew that about Katharine McPhee. It must have been a really hard struggle for her to get through, especially with all the stress of the show and the added pressure of looking thin in front of a national audience. Good thing she turned that into a positive and went to rehab.
Great girl and great inspiration. Nice to know that her talent and bulimia rehab had pave they way to overcome her condition.
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