Tom Daley has bravely opened up about his bulimia and self-image battle.
The 27-year-old Olympian swimmer found himself down a dark spiral after experts continuously ‘hammered’ into him that he needed to lose weight at the beginning of his sporting career.
The much-loved sports star recalls making himself sick in 2012 – the year of the London Olympics – after he became obsessed with his weight.
Tom admitted that he had a seriously unhealthy relationship with food, and at the time, he knew it wasn’t right as he couldn’t help but weigh himself every day to see if he had shed another pound or two.
He went on to reveal that he also felt ‘shameful’ after eating certain foods as his struggle with his body-image intensified.
Lifting the lid on his eating disorder, Tom told The Guardian: “I used to make myself throw up, in 2012. I weigh myself every day. I’ve had a very strange relationship with food and my body image.
“I guess it is a mild form of eating disorder. Men always seem to not have eating disorders, and it’s hard to talk about it. But I would consider myself to be someone that has very much struggled with body image, and eating, and feeling guilty and shameful of the things that I eat.
The Olympic swimmer went on to reveal that he was pressured into losing weight in a bid to perform better.
Tom said the idea of shedding pounds was ‘hammered’ into him as people in his industry claimed that he was overweight.
“I don’t think the body image issues come from anything to do with the media. My body image issues came from within my sport – it was hammered into me that I was overweight and needed to lose weight in order to perform,” he said.
Tom admitted that he never felt pressure to look a certain way from the media.
Rather, it was the experts within the sporting industry which placed the crushing pressure upon him.
Thankfully, these days, Tom couldn’t be any happier in his own skin.
The much-loved star is currently celebrating his win from the Attitude Awards at London’s Roundhouse on Thursday night.
Tom scooped the award for Sport Star at the prestigious event.
