Roz Purcell has opened up about her health struggles as a teen and young adult.
The former model, who now focuses on health and fitness revealed she struggled with an eating disorder when she was younger.
Roz recalls being ‘miserable’ and got honest in a post to mark Eating Disorder Awareness Week.
“It’s coming to an end of ED (eating disorder) awareness week. I hadn’t really planned on putting anything up, it feels like another lifetime & even though I’ve spoken about my food and body struggles on here in the past it never gets any easier. I feel sad looking back, I wasted so many years putting myself down, missing opportunities and worst of all not being me around my friends and family. (Sorry) I know I was miserable,” she said alongside a photo of herself then and now.
“The girl on the left looked at her body as something that was purely for show. Never once did I think how well my body held all my organs in place or was in any way grateful for my health.”
“I resented it, I punished it, binged, threw up, purged, on repeat, while pretending everything was fine. I used to always just think this was me, this was just how I would always be towards my body and food… but thankfully that’s just not true,” she said.
The 28-year-old explained that therapy among other things helped her to get through it.
“I get loads of messages after I post about this subject asking what helped me. But to be honest everyone’s journey will be different and for me, it was a handful of things that all seemed to happen in one year, along with reaching out for help through therapy it made me realise how lucky I was and how important it was for me to change and start being me again.”
She also shared that people and charities like BodyWhys also helped her and that she hopes other people going through it will also seek help.
“There’s so many people & organisations to reach out to like @bodywhys. And I hope this week has brought some awareness and help to those who need it. I wish I could go back and talk to my younger self sometimes, but I can’t & I guess that’s why it’s good to talk about it now so maybe even one person will go ask for help.”
You can visit Bodywhys or call 1890 200 444
