Tom Daley reflects on his past struggles with bulimia and body dysmorphia.
Tom Daley has peeled back the curtain of his past body image struggles and eating disorder.
TW: eating disorders. Please be advised that the following content may be triggering for individuals who have or are currently struggling with eating disorders.
In 2021, the Olympic gold medalist first opened up about the topic in his memoir, Coming Up For Air, revealing that he developed body dysmorphia and bulimia in the lead up to the 2012 London Olympics.
In a recent interview with Radio Times, Daley offered further insight into that “dark time,” revealing that he faced pressure on both personal and professional fronts.
“It was a home Olympics Games. When was I ever going to get a chance to dive in front of a home crowd again, with all my friends and family there? I was also aware that the funding of British diving was sitting on my shoulders because if we didn’t win a medal, funding for diving was going to be cut,” he explained.
“So it was huge pressure, and I struggled with all kinds of things in the build-up to that – eating disorder and anxiety issues.”
In addition to the aforementioned pressures, Daley said that being told he was “overweight” was a factor in his body image challenges, resulting in him “cutting out food.”
“I used to get so hungry that I’d binge. Then when I binged, I’d feel so bad that I was bulmic for a while,” he explained.
