Tess Holliday Says Her Weight Kept Doctors From Diagnosing Her Anorexia

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

Tess Holliday is opening up about her anorexia diagnosis – something she says went undetected by doctors for decades because of “weight-bias stigma.” In a new interview on Tamron Hall Monday, the plus-size model revealed how she came to learn of her eating disorder, reflecting:

“During the pandemic, it caused me to slow down — like it did most of us — and I started really examining how I was feeding my body or the lack thereof.”

The pandemic influenced to so many health journeys! Though this journey went in a direction no one saw coming…

Tess eventually reached out to a dietician she met virtually during the pandemic to seek help for what she thought was overeating and binge eating but the result was a completely unexpected diagnosis, she shared:

“When I reached out to her, I thought that I was overeating, I thought that I was binge eating. About five months into our [virtual] sessions, she said, ‘I can’t diagnose you properly, but if I could I would diagnose you as anorexia nervosa.’”

The words caught Holliday completely off guard and she burst out laughing, she recalled:

“I was sitting on the kitchen counter and I remember her saying it and I just laughed.”

The host then asked why the makeup artist had that reaction to the possible diagnosis. The 36-year-old candidly explained:

“Because look at me. I’m fat. When you think of the term anorexia, you associate it with emaciated bodies. I had no idea that it could be me.”

That’s a great point. It must have been so refreshing to have someone validate her struggles like that after years of being judged for her eating habits and battling diet culture.

Addressing the problems with weight bias in the medical field, the mom of two continued:

“I just was flooded with all kinds of feelings. If I would have known that this was a possibility, I could have gotten help sooner. If there wasn’t so much weight-bias stigma in the medical industry, someone could have helped me before I got to his point.”

We hope her story and platform help doctors realize this problem! It’s so heartbreaking to hear the pain in her voice when she talks about not getting help earlier. Take a listen to a clip from the emotional interview (below).