Jamie Laing felt 'shame' amid bulimia battle
Jamie Laing has opened up about his years-long battle with bulimia.
Jamie Laing kept his bulimia battle a secret for years.
The 36-year-old TV star only realised he really had a problem when he was caught making himself sick by Sophie Habboo, his now-wife.
During an appearance on the Happy Place podcast, Jamie shared: "My story is that I played a lot of sport, very sporty, always quite lean. And I used to eat a lot of food because I was trying to put on weight for rugby.
"And when I had my knee injury and sport was taken away from me, I must've gone into some sort of anxiety without realising it. And I got comfort in eating."
Jamie admits that a turning point came following a holiday.
He explained: "It was back when you didn't really have camera phones, so I had a disposable camera and I went on holiday.
"I was taking photos and my mum would say to me, 'You look a bit stocky. You're eating a lot and you look a bit stocky.' And it was from a place of love, but I was like 'whatever'.
"And I remember getting the photos developed and I came across a picture of me topless on the beach and I did look stocky. I didn't look lean, I didn't look as six-packy as I usually did. And immediately I just felt shame."
Jamie's struggles worsened when he became a TV star. However, Sophie ultimately discovered the problem and helped Jamie to regain control of his life.
He shared: "Sophie caught me once and this secret that I had, was suddenly not a secret anymore and suddenly I realised what was going on.
"She said to me, 'What are you doing?' and I said, 'I was doing nothing,' and she said: 'Yes you were. I heard you being sick'.
"She said, 'It's okay, I just want you to know that whatever you're dealing with, I'm sorry. And if you ever want talk about it, I'm here'.
"And I suddenly clicked onto what was happening. It was like it was an out-of-body experience and then suddenly became a realistic thing that I was doing."
