Michaela Strachan's family breakdown caused her anorexia
Michaela Strachan has been candid about her anorexia battle, which the star developed as her family "fell apart" when she was aged 16.
Michaela Strachan developed anorexia when her family "fell apart" at age 16.
The emotional instability created by the breakdown of her household made the TV presenter take control of her life, notably eating, which made Michaela, 59, battle an intense fear of weight gain, and led the star to drastically restrict her food intake.
She explained in the latest edition of The Big Issue magazine: "When I was in musical theatre college, I suffered from anorexia.
"My family life sort of fell apart when I was 16. I don't tend to talk about it very much publicly, but it did. It fell apart.
"And I was somebody that liked control in my life. I liked things to be ordered. I've got that sort of personality. So, you know, when things went out of control, I did the classic anorexia thing, which is, I controlled myself.
"And the fact is that I was looking in a mirror every day, in a leotard and tights. It was absolute textbook anorexia."
Michaela's eating disorder hit home after her brother, Gary, gave the Springwatch star a serious reality check.
She recalled: "I went on tour with Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and got very thin.
"When I came home, my brother was absolutely horrified at the way I looked. He got really upset with me.
"We had an argument, and he just said, 'Right, you've got two choices in life. You either decide to get better, and you live, or you continue to starve yourself, and you die.' He said, 'I really hope you choose the first one.'
"It was a simple, punchy, powerful thing to say. And I went to bed that night thinking, 'What the hell have I been doing? Why am I doing this? Why am I going through this?'
"For somebody who actually was quite a sensible person, it was quite a shock that I treated my body like that. And that night, I went to bed, and I thought, 'I don't want to be like this anymore. I want to get healthy again.'"
