Illawarra vocal coach speaks out about living with an eating disorder.

By Justin Huntsdale.

Wollongong performer and teacher Anna Chaplin has always been open about her private health issues, except for one.

The US-born singer is an ambassador for Endometriosis Australia, but is only now opening up about living with an eating disorder.

It has become an obsession so consuming she cannot live with the weight of it alone any more.

“I think it’s really important that we talk about the things we’re ashamed of,” Ms Chaplin said.

“I think the things we don’t want to talk about are the things someone else needs to hear and we have to say the most.”

Ms Chaplin said people deserved not to feel ashamed if they had an eating disorder, and speaking out about it could be a way to share the fight.

That is why she is speaking out now.

Even for someone who speaks openly about endometriosis (a disease affecting the uterus), telling people she has an eating disorder has been difficult.

“When you’ve got a secret you’re struggling with on an hourly basis and you’re not even telling your closest friends, that’s a tremendous weight for anybody to carry,” Ms Chaplin said.

Living with obsession

Eating disorders include a range of psychological conditions characterised by abnormal or disturbed eating habits.

At the heart of many is a consuming feeling of obsession.

Ms Chaplin said her level of obsession was exhausting.

“I’m someone who is constantly thinking about what I’ll eat and what I ate yesterday, and how I’m looking and how things are fitting,” she said.

“It gets mentally exhausting, and it’s something that maybe if you start to speak openly about, you can help other people on their journey and stop obsessing privately about it.”

Ms Chaplin has sought help, but said the feeling of obsession did not go away quickly.

She does not fit neatly into a particular eating disorder diagnosis, but said she constantly counted calories, as well as binge eating and withholding food.

“At my worst I don’t want more than 1400 calories per day [the recommended intake for a woman is around 1,800], and I count pretty much everything and round numbers up,” she said.

“There are many different kinds of eating disorders, just like there are with anxiety or other types of mental health.”

Eating disorders in the entertainment industry

Ms Chaplin has been in the entertainment industry her whole life, working as a singer, actress and a casting agent on Broadway in New York.

She said it had triggered her eating disorder and had stayed with her ever since.

“I was always a little bit more obsessive about the way I looked when I was at school, but when I went to New York and started professionally training and working in casting, that’s when it got triggered,” Ms Chaplin said.

“I had to line up with other women in leotards and be judged.

“It became really unhealthy, and there are a lot of women in this industry who feel pressure to look a certain way.

Ms Chaplin said now that she had gone public about her eating disorder, she hoped it would help other people feeling the same way.

“I have fears people will now secretly be watching me eat or seeing if I hide my food, or what will my employers think, but at the end of the day the most important person is supposed to be me,” she said.

“I can’t be worried about what my friends think.”

More information and assistance regarding eating disorders is available at The Butterfly Foundation, phone 1800 334 673.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.

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