A Victoria’s Secret Model Has Apologised For Promoting ‘Damaging Eating Habits’ In The Media

Just an FYI: This article contains discussion of unhealthy eating habits and eating disorders which some readers might find triggering.

A Victoria’s Secret model has apologised to fans and readers for promoting “damaging eating habits” in interviews.

Australian model Bridget Malcolm (who previously wrote about giving up dieting) has said that she regrets discussing what she ate while she was in “the depths of body dysmorphia”.

Body dysmorphia is a mental disorder in which a person obsesses over their perceived physical flaws – in Bridget’s case, it lead to her spending two to three hours in the gym every day, and becoming “sick with worry” if she was offered something “unplanned” to eat.

“I would eat such an extreme diet, and train so hard because I would look in the mirror and see someone who needed to lose weight looking back at me,” she wrote.

When I would give interviews and discuss my eating habits I truly believed that eating predominately vegetables and protein shakes was OK… I’m sorry for being so public about damaging eating habits.

Bridget said that she struggled with body dysmorphia after she went into recovery for her eating disorder and started gaining weight – but now she’s feeling much better about what she sees in the mirror.

“For the first time what I am seeing in the mirror is actually my reflection looking back at me,” she writes. “I like my body.”

She’s also letting go of her old ideas of ‘clean eating’ which she says is “2016 talk for disordered eating”:

“I am no longer hiding behind the veneer of ‘clean eating. It also means absolutely nothing. Beyond making sure my food isn’t contaminated with bacteria, clean eating is not a thing in my life. Eating is.

• body dysmorphia
• Eating Disorder
• wellness