In the wake of the Jennifer Love Hewitt body-issue controversy actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler is speaking out about the “private hell” she encountered while trying to live up to Hollywood’s beauty standards.
The former “Sopranos” star says for years she refused to publicly discuss the experiences she went through as she coped with a devastating eating disorder because as she tells it she was a “different person.”
“It’s hard for me to even recognize who I was,” the 26-year-old actress told reporters after reading about Hewitt’s bikini picture ordeal. “My reality was so warped. … I knew I had a problem and wanted to get better, but I was not able to let go of my habit.”
Sigler admits that she would not only deprive herself of food, but she would also over-exercise.
During a recent appearance at a National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) function in which she was honored for overcoming her disorder Sigler recalled what she called a “defining moment” in her life.
It took place during a meal with her family, when her father begged her to have some cake. “I remember rationalizing that if I had that one piece of dessert, the next morning I would wake up and weigh 400 pounds,” she says. “It sounds so wild, but for me it was true.”
Sigler says her struggle to escape that “deepest, darkest place” lasted years. Now, she says she has made it her goal to have eating disorders seen as more than a “superficial disease.”
These days, Sigler says she remains in recovery, and works to temper her bad habits.
At one time, “I knew every calorie that entered my body, and I tried to measure every calorie that I could burn,” she says. “So for me, any sort of regimen, any sort of ritual or rule when it comes to dieting or exercising, is bad for me.”
The actress says her eating disorder days are “gone but not forgotten” and she hopes that with her new mission to support other women who are battling similar situations she can focus on her future instead of dwelling on her past.
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