Ricki Lake is open and honest about her struggles with her weight and body image, which she bravely reveals is caused by a difficult childhood – one that included molestation. She opens up about her lifelong weight issues in her new memoir, Never Say Never.
She’s come to terms with what happened to her, and says it’s helped her grow and connect with people. She says:
“I think every experience I’ve gone through, all the hardship, overcoming all the challenges make you who you are. I certainly wouldn’t wish that upon anyone and it was a horrible thing to come to terms with, to be violated in that way. But I think it’s given me a lot of my compassion, my ability to kind of connect with people when they’re talking in very intimate details about what’s going on in their lives. It’s helped me grow into a compassionate kind of person and definitely with the weight stuff, the battle started there. I remember being adolescent and growing breasts and going through these changes and not wanting to feel attractive.”
She goes on to talk about her body image:
“I’m always conscious of it. I went back to Dancing With the Stars… and I felt, ‘Oh God, I’ve gained weight back’. I was afraid people were going to say I looked fat. I’m always going to be a work in progress. I feel like I’ve come a long way. I’m in such a beautiful, healthy relationship with someone who loves me no matter what. We’ve had conversations where I asked him if he has a preference, slender or curvy. He’s like, ‘I love you no matter what you weigh. I want you to love yourself’. It’s powerful to hear those words from someone you want as your life partner.”
