Tennis champ Marion Bartoli's 20kg weight loss was caused by a mystery virus.

July 8, 2016

In a matter of months, retired tennis champion Marion Bartoli’s appearance has changed dramatically.

The 2013 Wimbledon winner has lost more than 20 kilograms since the beginning of this year, sparking widespread media attention and speculation that she’d been battling an eating disorder.

However, Bartoli has revealed her staggering weight loss is the result of a rare illness doctors have been unable to diagnose.

Thank you @ITV @hollywills @Schofe for giving me the chance to explain to you my #illness on @itvthismorning ???? pic.twitter.com/D4Q26pKAEa

— Marion bartoli (@bartoli_marion) July 7, 2016

Initially she’d attributed the change to returning to a ‘healthy lifestyle’ post-retirement, but blood tests revealed the 31-year-old had contracted an unnamed “internal virus” earlier this year.

Bartoli suspects she picked it up while travelling between Australia, the US and India in February, after which her health deteriorated.

Speaking on UK talk show The Morning, the French athlete and commentator described the “horrendous” impact the condition has wreaked on her life.

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Image: ITV

“I’m reduced to eating organic salad leaves with cucumber without the skin, because my body can’t even process the skin," she told the show's hosts.

"My body started refusing more and more things ... I can't type on my phone without gloves, I can't wear my jewellery as I get a bad skin reaction."

Bartoli now washes in mineral water to avoid contact with tap water, and limits her use of technological devices to five minutes because any longer results in a heightened heart rate.

Marion Bartoli after winning the 2013 Wimbledon women's final. (Getty images)

"My life right now is an absolute nightmare. I wouldn't wish what I am going through on anyone," she said, admitting she feared for her life.

"I'm afraid one day my heart will stop ... This is not life. I am just surviving."

The illness has also prevented Bartoli, a former world number seven, from participating in a doubles match she'd been invited to play at Wimbledon this year.

So nice to meet @yoonjongshin today @rolandgarros!! #korea #kpop #yoonjongshin #rolandgarros Hopefully my @filausa collection will dress his #dancers soon ????✌???????????????? #LOVEFILA

A photo posted by Marion bartoli (@bartolimarion) on May 21, 2016 at 3:21am PDT

The tournament's officials replaced her with another former player for 'medical reasons'.

After receiving a flurry of negative tweets about her appearance, Bartoli was spurred to talk publicly about her condition and explain it.

"Maybe there are other people around the world suffering the same, and maybe we can all join and be supportive," she explained.

Image: ITV

She also made it very clear her 20kg weight loss wasn't intentional or the result of disordered eating.

"I want people to understand that I don’t do [this] to myself on purpose ... I love to eat and drink, I love life and I want to be alive," she said.

Bartoli will begin treatment at a clinic in Italy on Monday.

Featured images: Getty/ITV

Celebrities respond to media attention on their weight.

Stella BoonshoftThe NYU student started the amazing Body Love Blog, where she posted this picture of herself and wrote an open letter to those who feel entitled to shame others for the size or look of their bodies. Image via http://thebodyloveblog.tumblr.com"> Body Love Blog

Rebel WilsonThe actress said on Twitter; "I'm not trying to be hot. I'm just trying to be a good actress and entertain people."

Image via @rebelwilson

Adele"The first thing to do is be happy with yourself and appreciate your body - only then should you try to change things about yourself."

Image via Getty

Lady GagaAfter the media focused on her alleged weight gain in September 2012, Gaga hit back at critics by baring her body in photographs, sharing her struggles with an eating disorder, and inviting her fans to join her in a "body revolution"/ Image via @ladygaga

Ashley JuddAfter the March 2012 frenzy around Judd's "puffy face" the actress fought back in 'The Daily Beast', calling the media out for making women's bodies "a source of speculation, ridicule, and invalidation, as if they belong to others". Image via @ashley_judd

Christina Aguilera"I am always in support of someone who is willing and comfortable in their own skin enough to embrace it," the singer said in a recent interview. Image via @xtina

Lena DunhamAt the 2012 New Yorker Festival, the magazine's TV critic, Emily Nussbaum, asked Lena Dunham, producer, creator and star of the hit HBO show 'Girls' why Dunham is naked in so many scenes.

Dunham responded; "I realised that what was missing in movies for me was the presence of bodies I understood." She said she plans to live until she is 105 and show her thighs every day. Image via @lenadunham

Alexa ChungChung responded to critics who suggested that her slight frame made her a bad role model for young women, saying:

"Just because I exist in this shape doesn't mean that I'm, like, advocating it." Image via Twitter @alexa_chung

Beth DittoThis five-foot-tall, 200-pound singer spoke openly about her weight to 'The Advocate' saying, "I feel sorry ... for people who've had skinny privilege and then have it taken away from them. I have had a lifetime to adjust to seeing how people treat women who aren't their idea of beautiful and therefore aren't their idea of useful, and I had to find ways to become useful to myself." Image via @marybethditto

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