Gemma Oaten thinks 'pressure to be skinny is scary'
Gemma Oaten is keen to dispel falsehoods that surround eating disorders.
Gemma Oaten thinks the current "narrative" surrounding health and fitness is "scary".
The 41-year-old soap star was hospitalised 21 times from the age of 12 to 19 due to anorexia, and Gemma believes that a lot of good work surrounding eating disorders has actually come undone in recent years.
She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "There's a lot around pressure to be skinny again at the moment, which is really scary.
"I was talking about it to my friend, with the Montjaro jabs. In the '90s and '00s we were in our Kate Moss and Jodie Kidd era, 'heroin chic' was on the catwalk. It was this big narrative around how skinny and thin was beautiful.
"Then things progressed with body positivity and seeing larger models and people in our social streams and on television. All of a sudden I feel like the narrative is going back to: thin is how society is meant to be, especially for women."
Gemma currently serves as the CEO of SEED, a charity service that provides support to people with eating disorders.
And she's determined to help to educate the public about the causes and dangers of eating disorders.
The actress said: "It's scary but we keep fighting on to try and make people understand that eating disorders are a serious mental health illness, it's not about vanity, for many people it's about lack of control. I always say that food is the symptom, it's not the cause."
Gemma is particularly keen to dispel some ideas that still surround eating disorders in the UK.
The TV star - who is best known for playing Rachel Breckle in Emmerdale - explained: "A lot of people misconstrue that an eating disorder is brought about by seeing images of thin people and magazines and social media. Yes, there is an element of that but ultimately it's about losing control over something and feeling like the eating disorder is a way of getting control back."
