The model industry is notorious for placing unrealistic body image pressure onto it’s models, which in turn lead to eating disorders. British model and tv star Jay Camilleri , knows this fact first hand and spoke openly about how he struggled with bulimia and anorexia while working in the fashion industry.
The London based model says he began foregoing meals so he could fit better into extra-small clothes. “I started out a lot of the time skipping meals. It became a habit for me and the weight kept coming off,” Camilleri told the Daily Mail. “You could see my ribs. I was getting a tattoo on my spine and the tattooist refused to carry on because he said it was just going into bone.”
As well as not eating well, Camilleri lied to his family and loved ones about his habits, claiming he was attending casting calls when he was really hitting the gym twice a day. “I’d do an hour of cardio, and an hour of weights in the evening,” he said. “I pushed weights to tone up, I didn’t want to get any bigger.”
To make things worse,Camilleri threw up his meals at social occasions where he felt obligated to eat. Camilleri was pleased with his new thinner physique since it was a stark contrast from his schoolyard bully nickname “Fat gay Jay,” ”I was getting a salad from a coffee shop and this woman turned around and told me ‘You need to eat, you look starving,’” he said. “I just said, ‘Thanks.’ I knew she was making a dig but I just saw myself looking great.”
Camilleri sought help after years of meal skipping, overexercising and bulimia and now maintains a healthy weight. the now 25-year old helps he can other men with eating disorders by raising awareness to the disorder. “It’s still not really spoken about with guys,” he said. “Asking for help is something to be proud of not ashamed of.”
Camilleri wants to start a charity for the loved ones of eating disorder sufferers, with the help of his boyfriend, Sam Smith.
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