Zosia Mamet just made a startling confession. She’s been struggling with an eating disorder her whole life.
The 26-year-old actress (who plays Shoshanna Shapiro on Girls) has written about her struggle for Glamour magazine. In her column, she refers to the condition as her “addiction”.
Zosia’s not alone in her “addiction” – there are 30 million Americans and 900,000 Australians who also have the illness.
Mamet tells a harrowing story of starving herself as a teenager, and the way her father intervened to save her.
“I was only 17, living in misery, waiting to die,” she writes.
“My dad eventually got me into treatment. He came home one night from a party, took me by the shoulders, and said, “You’re not allowed to die.” It was the first time I realized this wasn’t all about me. I didn’t care if I died, but my family did. That’s the thing about these kinds of disorders: They’re consuming; they make you egocentric; they’re all you can see.”
Zosia goes on, beautifully, to talk about the recovery process – and how ultimately the disorder was not about weight or dieting. It’s “just the way the monster manifests”. She’s a healthy weight now, and obviously successfully carving herself a career in acting and comedy.
Zosia’s column should be compulsory reading for young women. In fact, all women. In fact, everyone.
You can read Zosia’s full column here.
For support, help and further information about eating disorders please contact The Butterfly Foundation on 1800 ED HOPE (1800 33 4673) or visit their website at www.thebutterflyfoundation.org.au.
Top Comments
Struggling from an eating disorder for 'her whole life'? I highly doubt it; sure there are 7 year olds diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, but even then it's not literally your 'whole life'.
Even after you have recovered, the battle is ongoing. It literally never truly ends ... until you die. So yes, it IS literally your whole life. Just like many mental illnesses and addictions, such as alcoholism, you can be 'recovered' but you are never 'cured'.
In the article she states "I've struggled with an eating disorder since I was a child". Not technically her "whole life", but I suspect after so many years of struggling with this hideous illness day after that day that it sure feels like it.
Beautifully described. Similar could be said about depression.
It was the thought of my grandparents that stopped me mid-suicide attempt. I thought the world, my parents and sibling, would all be better off without me, as I felt I was such a no-good burden...but I suddenly had an image of my grandparents finding out. I didn't want to do that to them, so I chose to live, for that day at least. Luckily, I kept on living - and for the past decade I've been deliriously happy. There's no way I could have envisioned that then.