(PCM) TLC’s What Not To Wear star may dish out the hard truth on the hit makeover show, but she has a vulnerable side, too. The reality star admits that she’s suffered from a lot of what she tries to help the show’s fashion victims with: body image issues. In fact, London, 43, admits that she’s battled both anorexia and compulsive overeating in the past.
It all started in her early 20s, she tells People. “I felt like I’d never had a serious boyfriend and I really wanted to be attractive.” Her dieting habits soon spiraled out of control, and she was down to 90 pounds in no time – an unhealthy weight for a 5’7″ young woman. She got help, but after a brief hospitalization, London began to binge eat. She doubled her weight within one year, reaching nearly 180 pounds.
London decided to open up about her struggles in order to help others facing similar body image issues; she’s letting it all out in her new book The Truth About Style.
“When you can talk about something and shine light on it, you’re obliterating shame,” says London. “And that to me was always the really hard part – to feel so filled with shame and having no recourse to thinking it could get better.
“My value doesn’t simply come from [being thin]. It comes from me and solely from me,” she says. “It took me a long time to recognize that.”
The Truth About Style hits stands October 2nd!
