Taylor Swift has been dealing with an eating disorder for years

Sundance Film Festival 2020 - Miss Americana World Premiere

Here are photos of Taylor Swift at the Sundance Film Festival’s opening-night premiere of Taylor Swift: Miss Americana, her Netflix documentary. I friggin’ love her outfit here. It’s a wide-leg, sleeveless jumpsuit with a matching coat and it looks stunning on her. My only little nit-pick is that she should have just worn black heels – the matching boots were not necessary. But otherwise, one of the best outfits I’ve seen on Taylor in a while. I want that coat.

As we’ve seen, Taylor is promoting and previewing the documentary in earnest this week, and Variety had coverage on a subject Taylor discusses in the film: her struggles with an eating disorder.

In the documentary: In one of the most revealing and surprising segments of the Netflix film, Swift talks for several minutes about having struggled in the past with an eating disorder. After being pictured facing a phalanx of photographers after she emerges from her front door, Swift is heard in voiceover saying that “it’s not good for me to see pictures of myself every day.” Although she says “it’s only happened a few times, and I’m not in any way proud of it,” Swift admits there have been times in the past when she’s seen “a picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big, or… someone said that I looked pregnant … and that’ll just trigger me to just starve a little bit — just stop eating.”

Talking about body image: “I didn’t know if I was going to feel comfortable with talking about body image and talking about the stuff I’ve gone through in terms of how unhealthy that’s been for me — my relationship with food and all that over the years… I’m not as articulate as I should be about this topic because there are so many people who could talk about it in a better way. But all I know is my own experience. And my relationship with food was exactly the same psychology that I applied to everything else in my life: If I was given a pat on the head, I registered that as good. If I was given a punishment, I registered that as bad.”

It started early for her: “I remember how, when I was 18, that was the first time I was on the cover of a magazine. And the headline was like ‘Pregnant at 18?’ And it was because I had worn something that made my lower stomach look not flat. So I just registered that as a punishment. And then I’d walk into a photo shoot and be in the dressing room and somebody who worked at a magazine would say, ‘Oh, wow, this is so amazing that you can fit into the sample sizes. Usually we have to make alterations to the dresses, but we can take them right off the runway and put them on you!’ And I looked at that as a pat on the head. You register that enough times, and you just start to accommodate everything towards praise and punishment, including your own body.”

She was undereating a lot in 2017/2018: “I thought that I was supposed to feel like I was going to pass out at the end of a show, or in the middle of it. Now I realize, no, if you eat food, have energy, get stronger, you can do all these shows and not feel (enervated).” Swift says she doesn’t care so much now if someone comments on a weight gain, and she’s reconciled “the fact that I’m a size 6 instead of a size double-zero.” Swift says she was completely unaware that anything was wrong in her double-zero era, and had a defense at the ready should it come up. If anyone expressed concern, she’d say, “‘What are you talking about? Of course I eat. …. I exercise a lot.’ And I did exercise a lot. But I wasn’t eating.”

[From Variety]

That sucks and good on Taylor for talking about it – it’s something so many girls and women go through as normal un-famous people, now imagine how magnified it is when you’re as famous as Taylor and getting pap’d all over New York and hanging out with models all the time. That era of “Taylor the Model” was earlier than the period she’s discussing though – that really started in 2014-15, and I wonder if that’s when her chronic undereating started.

Here’s the trailer for Netflix’s Taylor Swift: Miss Americana.

Sundance Film Festival 2020 - Miss Americana World Premiere

Sundance Film Festival 2020 - Miss Americana World Premiere

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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94 Responses to “Taylor Swift has been dealing with an eating disorder for years”

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  1. Cherry says:

    That’s awful, I hope she’s ok.
    On a more superficial note: yes that’s a great coat, but I’m not sure the pants fit her properly? Isn’t that a monstrous camel toe in the bottom pic?

    • Erinn says:

      It almost looks like it’s too heavy of a fabric, and maybe were a bit larger than they should have been? It is a bit off, but the coat IS pretty great.

    • raptor says:

      My issue with the pants is that the pattern doesn’t line up at the seam, and it could be causing an optical illusion? It’s a great print, but the execution seems a bit off.

    • Sequinedheart says:

      unfortunately yes, it does appear she has a sizable moose knuckle.

      Joking aside, I was thinking last year that she has some weight on & looks awesome these days. Really truly beautiful, healthy and happy. I am all about this Taylor.

    • Pabena6 says:

      It’s the way the wide white stripe is placed on her pelvis — bad fabric layout. They needed to lay out the pattern pieces differently so that optical illusion isn’t there — as it is, they’ve put the white lines in like a landing strip, you can’t HELP but stare at her crotch.

  2. Becks1 says:

    That is a great look on her, surprisingly. I usually don’t like her outfits at events like this (her casual style I like.)

    Unfortunately, I’m not surprised to hear she struggled with an eating disorder. I feel like its so common for women/girls in the industry, especially those who started out younger (and at an age when it was easier to maintain being skinny). I hop she’s doing okay now.

    • Kristina says:

      Totally. I’m a non- famous Midwesterner, and pretty much every girl I knew was dieting in high school, no matter their size. Thin girl’s would try to see how thin they could get, and it was easy to do with that young metabolism, which would lead to this cycle. College- we’d all- thin girls- diet together and go to the gym together, not for health reasons. It’s so normalized among young girls and women, and the surrounding culture. And she’s right- you get the praise, and it can be addicting. I’m very sad to hear she struggled with this.

      • Spicecake38 says:

        I too am a non famous mid western girl (love how you said that)and everything you said sounds like my high school and college years too,striving to be extra skinny was and often still is so normalized in our culture…

        My best to you and to Taylor and all others struggling out there.

      • Pineapple says:

        Non famous Canadian girl here … same thing. Madonna was once asked what she was going to teach her daughter about men and she replied, “Nothing, I am going to teach her to have self-confidence.”

        The idea being, if you are confident you love yourself, decide for yourself and don’t let people (including yourself) make you feel badly. That is what I would love for my daughter. Just a boat load of happiness and self-confidence.

  3. MeghanNotMarkle says:

    I hope she’s able to get the help she needs to deal with her issues.

    And yeah, massive camel toe in that outfit. It’s not cut well at all.

    • minx says:

      It’s too bad because the coat and top look great. I think they were aiming for an oversized pant look and it’s just too much fabric cut badly.

      • MeghanNotMarkle says:

        I agree. The cut in the pants is just really unfortunate. The rest of it looks amazing.

  4. Arizona says:

    this makes sense, especially when you consider how super super skinny she was when she was with her squad and doing tons of pap strolls, and then when she gained a little bit of weight when she went on hiatus. she looks great now and seems much happier. it really just goes to show how incredibly damaging the media can be, especially to a young girl who’s already hyper critical of themselves.

    • Cassandra says:

      Yeah I’m not surprised in the slightest-and she’s super into tumblr which has a very large and vocal ED community.

      Good on her for being open about it

    • alternative fact says:

      I can’t imagine having a ton of supermodel friends does wonders for anyones body image or eating habits. Maybe the fact that she started struggling not to pass out on stage was a wakeup call for her during the 1989 tour. There must have been a point where she realized what she was doing was going to hurt her career if she could not longer perform well.

  5. Cee says:

    As someone who has suffered the same ED as Taylor, I suspected as much but you never want to speculate with EDs as they’re terrible and very dangerous.

    I hope she’s in a healthier place and treats her body – and mind! – better. I’m glad she’s speaking out. To some women (myself included) it’s refreshing to hear a famous woman celebrate and be content with a healthy and normal size. I still remember when you HAD to be a size 0 and it was very disheartening.

  6. Elisa says:

    Good for her for talking about it and she looks happy and healthy in the pics.
    The outfit is hilarious but she somehow pulls it off…

  7. AmyB says:

    I too suffered from an ED, specifically anorexia, for almost all of my twenties. And you never want to speculate about someone else for sure!! But am I surprised about Taylor Swift? Not in the least! I cannot imagine the pressures that women in Hollywood go through, especially insanely successful ones like Taylor. And considering she came into the spotlight so young, and then I am sure her body changed, just like it does for all of us. But eating disorders are not about food, weight and your body. They are about other psychological issues: control, trauma or sexual abuse, dysfunctional relationships, perhaps underlying mental issues, the list goes on and on. The battle just gets played out with your body and food. That is why therapy is so important! You must address the underlying issues if recovery is truly possible! And for me it did….but it took almost a decade and even then, it still took some time for me to get normal about food, and accepting of my body at a normal weight.

    But I am so happy to hear Taylor speak about this – using her platform in this way will only bring more awareness and understanding to this epidemic from which many women (and men) suffer from!!! Good for you Taylor xoxo

  8. Lucy says:

    Ugh. I’ve always seen her as having such an “””effortlessly ideal””” body and proportions. I feel so bad now.

    • Betsy says:

      Why feel bad? That’s the words we are given to use about that body size! That’s the body size that is sold to us as healthy. We are forbidden to say that sometimes extreme thinness seems unhealthy but we are encouraged societally to shame fat people as inherently unhealthy – I’ve read a metric ton of commenters here saying the same thing. It’s a freakish double standard, and it doesn’t do jack for people’s health because according to her own words, Taylor was not healthy at that size and it wasn’t sustainable. But thinness is held up as the only way to be healthy.

      For the record, I think Taylor looks wonderful at any size and I hope that like my friends with eating disorders that she finds peace.

    • TrixC says:

      I would say very, very few women have the sort of physique Taylor used to have without significant calorie restriction. I believe most models and actresses are constantly dieting and many have some form of disordered eating and/or obsessive exercising to stay at that size. Look at how much weight Kaia Gerber has lost, or Gigi Hadid.

      • megs283 says:

        Yup. I would have been shocked if she didn’t have disordered thoughts about eating.

      • LA says:

        I remember Julianne Moore saying something similar a few years ago, that she was always hungry. The full quote – “I still battle with my deeply boring diet of, essentially, yogurt and breakfast cereal and granola bars. I hate dieting. I hate having to do it to be the ‘right’ size. I’m hungry all the time. I think I’m a slender person, but the industry apparently doesn’t. All actresses are hungry all the time, I think.”

      • BorderMollie says:

        That quote is just wild. It’s akin to torture to go around slightly famished all the time, or at the very least it’s a constant mental torment.

      • Kosmos says:

        People need to lose the perfection standards. Why can’t we accept people in all sizes, especially women? Does it really matter? We’re so obsessed with looks, wow. I was always a perfect bikini figure when I was younger, but I’ve gained a ‘little’ weight in the last few years, not really due to eating too much, but I hate feeling that people would judge me on that. I’m still the same person. Of course, no one wants to be obese or terribly overweight and it’s also not healthy, but for the rest who have a few extra pounds, it shouldn’t define us. As women, let’s be a little kinder to one another on this issue and maybe there will be fewer who will develop eating disorders.

  9. DP says:

    Glad to hear Taylor talking about this. It’s true for celebrities and non-celebrities. Skinny is unconsciously praised and rewarded. Heavier is shamed. Sometimes normal is considered fat, like Taylor is saying. It’s not ok. Sometimes, we only hear the overweight celebrities saying things like what Taylor is saying. It’s not fair that they have to fight alone. It’s good to hear someone with a now healthy, strong body (appearance wise) supporting a healthier message.

    Honestly, I struggle with an eating disorder and my weight has fluctuated quite a bit over the last twenty five years (since puberty). I have been skinny, fat and in between. I have noticed people treat me very differently at my different weights. Men and women. Some people are nicer and more attentive when I am in “better shape”. I don’t understand why other people’s eye contact and conversation should change with my personal weight? It as though heavier people are sometimes dismissed and ignored because they are not considered as valuable. It’s not ok.

    My 13 year old daughter has always been “skinny”. She’s always been a picking eater and it’s a struggle to get her to eat protein or try new foods. People gush over or make jokes about how skinny she is, in an appraising way. It makes me cringe. No one should be commenting on her weight except maybe the doctor. Thankfully, the doctor thinks she’s in a healthy range. As a parent, I try to provide healthy food and encourage healthy exercise. I take the approach of “Fuel for your body”. I don’t want to pass on my eating disorder to her, so I try to be mindful about what I say and what I model. It’s not easy though.

    My daughter adores Taylor. So in this case, I am thankful Taylor is putting out a positive, healthy message about taking care of our bodies.

  10. Originaltessa says:

    I’m usually pretty critical of Taylor, but I think this is HUGE! She looks so healthy now, and not a stick thin waif anymore. Her fans can see she’s just as beautiful as ever. I wish dangerously thin would go out of style once and for all. So glad Taylor is feeling good about herself and accepting herself.

    • Emily says:

      The thing is, sometimes “a stick thin waif” is also healthy. She’s saying that it wasn’t healthy for her. We shouldn’t decide what’s healthy *just* by how it looks.

      • Jaded says:

        We’re not deciding what’s healthy just by looks, we’re praising Taylor for being honest and open about her eating disorder. Yes, some people are naturally thin, others not. My sister died from eating disorders, she refused to get therapy, and I’m still uneasy when I see “unnaturally” thin women. A neighbour of mine who clearly had anorexia recently died and it brought back all the sadness I experienced after my sister passed away.

      • alternative fact says:

        Most women aren’t healthy when they have extremely low body fat and when you can see every bone and muscle though. Part of the problem imo is that we’ve been sold a totally distorted version of health.

      • A says:

        @Emily, yes there are definitely people out there who are stick thin no matter what and they look like they’re not being healthy even though they’re perfectly fine. But the truth is that these people are really few and far in between. A lot of people who are as you described, who struggle to put on weight, are not in the best of health and it’s because their bodies struggle to absorb the nutrients it needs from the food they’re digesting.

        No one is blaming skinny women for being skinny (which is already a world of difference compared to how society views being overweight as a moral failure) or for having health issues as a result of that. They are not doing this on purpose by restricting their diet, obviously. But when society decides to sell this particular image as the HEALTHY ideal, then there’s a huge problem. We should definitely question why we are taught to believe that this state of unhealth is something that women should aspire to. And more, that this state of unhealth is sold as something that is healthy and good for you!

        I feel like people, especially in North America, have really forgotten what it means to not have access to food. People are so used to having access to food that they see it as the norm when that has definitely not been the case throughout most of human history for a lot of people. Society has spent so much time trying desperately to combat starvation and improve peoples’ access to food that we’ve really forgotten that it’s a bad thing to not eat enough to the point where you’re collapsing on stage from exhaustion.

      • Nikki* says:

        Jaded, I’m so sorry you lost your sister. It’s a terrible thing.

  11. EB says:

    Obviously. Anybody who’s been there can recognize it in others, but when anyone tries to say “hey maybe we shouldn’t glorify this, it isn’t normal” it’s shut down as concern trolling or body shaming. I’m glad she’s in recovery and speaking about it. She has such a wide reach and maybe it will help a lot of people who have been suffering in silence.

    • Sarah says:

      Yep. This happened just yesterday in one of the Kate threads.

    • Misah says:

      Yep. The thing is, only 0,0001% of the world population can maintain a model physique without depriving themselves of food aka eating less than their body and metabolism would need. Saying this doesn’t mean ‘body shaming’, it means talking about a huge health issue that still affects millions of women (and men though for them the parameters are different and the amount of pressure too). That Taylor is speaking out about it is amazing. And especially what she says about ‘normal’ being considered ‘too heavy’. I’m a size 6 (US) and I’m 5ft 7, which should be considered slim, svelte. Yet high-end designers often carry my size as the ‘largest’ one, and I’ve often had girls and women acquaintances suggest I lose ‘a bit of’ weight. Once I was very sick and dropped to a size 2, and I got a ton of compliments and even displays of envy, which is simply mad and dangerous. I’m lucky in that my mom taught me a very healthy body image, but sometimes I’m still like “if I go down to a size 4 then I’ll feel better”, and it scares me. So kudos to Taylor!!

    • Moneypenny says:

      Indeed–when it has been you, you see it in others too. I don’t say it on the Kate threads, but I see myself in Kate’s looks and know 100% if I was in her position of fame and attention, I would look exactly the same way. I see it in her because I know it about myself and so many other women. I don’t love that about myself and have been more or less better for 14 years, but if I was famous, I’d have a raging eating disorder again and everyone would praise how tall and thin I am.

      • Vava says:

        I think Kate has an ED and I feel sorry for her regarding that. My hope for her is that some day she returns to healthy eating – it’s obvious she’s starving herself.

  12. Doodle says:

    I have my issues with Taylor but had free tickets to her show a few years ago and she’s a fabulous performer. And I am so happy she is speaking about this. I’m also happy she is being honest about her politics. She has been impressing me recently.

    • Pineapple says:

      You know what Doodle? She was always really charismatic and cute but yah, she has REALLY been impressing me also. Gosh, growing up is the greatest, the wisdom of age and the confidence is so freeing. As a female human, who is interested in bettering myself, i have adored getting older.

  13. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    Somehow I feel like pretty damn close to all women go through food and body issues if not their whole lives, a big portion of it. It sucks donkey balls. A lot of us are trained very early through families, friends and the entertainment industry to focus on it. There’s a very thin line between working out and eating right to be healthy or doing it to be skinny and wear specific sizes. I was watching some documentary covering a cheer team, and several girls would carry around scales. 😐 It starts for us when our bodies begin changing, and we either live with grounded and healthy attitudes surrounding us or toxic, superficial binary minds — numerical weight and starvation.

    • Esmom says:

      I hear you, Mabs. My mom was ALWAYS, I mean ALWAYS fixated on her weight. It’s like she was convinced if only she could reach that perfect goal weight, everything in her life would also be magically perfect. She has spent so much time and energy for so, so many years chasing that elusive perfection. Luckily I have a more positive relationship with food and exercise, although sometimes I have to fight the impulse not to undereat if I’m feeling fat.

      But unfortunately my 20yo son is overly fixated on his weight and eating and working out. For him it’s a matter of not being skinny but “buff” and strong. His psychiatrist calls it muscle dysmorphia, kinda the flip side of anorexia. It’s a form of OCD and on one hand I get that when someone feels like everything else in life is out of control, this is one thing they can control. It’s harrowing and I hope and pray every day that one day he’ll find a better balance.

      I’ve heard so many rave reviews about Cheer!

      • Spicecake38 says:

        @Esmom,sending encouragement and support to your son and to you too,I have been there with not exactly text book eating disorder,but rather as my then therapist described it as disordered eating…sometimes I was really striving for thinness,other times I was looking for control,I have some mild OCD tendencies too,it’s a mixed bag for me.You sound like such a good,supportive mom,best wishes for your boy to find that balance that works for him.

      • Ali says:

        This is my fear for my sons. There is so much focus on appearance for all kids and I don’t think boys are immune to the pressures. My older one pokes at his stomach and says it’s flabby/weak.

      • Sass says:

        @ali that is awful. Your poor little boy! They should not be touching him!!

      • Mabs A'Mabbin says:

        My mom was the same way Esmom. For herself and for me. It was incessant. Doctor appointments. Hypnosis. Every current diet fad. Bribes. And all for five pounds. I’ve talked about it here before, but it’s really something that stays with you. It’s truly poison. My brother, four years younger, had the same dysmorphic muscle thing. He even competed for a while. In his 30s he modeled for Under Armour. He’s spent a life in front of mirrors, and I’ve spent a life avoiding them and cameras lol. I am, however, thankful for raising three even-tempered, grounded, flexible, tolerant boys. Each has issues like everyone, but they power through without self-medication, staying drunk, getting into trouble and addictions. Maybe I broke some patterns? Perhaps through my many mistakes and letting them make their own, I’ve discovered escaping bad behavior is possible lol.

      • Esmom says:

        Thank you for your kind and thoughtful responses. The really hard part of my son’s situation is that he gets so much positive reinforcement for being so “fit” and “healthy.” He was a varsity athlete in high school and now is a collegiate athlete so again he can kinda fly under the radar with his obsessiveness. But he’s the only one of his teammates who refuses to take a day off, to rest and relax once in a while. He’s sadly convinced himself that even one day off will diminish his hard earned gains — even though he knows on one level that’s not true — an no amount of therapy has helped. My last hope is that his friends/teammates/peers will convince him it’s okay to take it easy. He tends to listen to them more than anyone else.

      • Mabs A'Mabbin says:

        Exactly Esmom. I know exactly what you’re talking about. My brother was the football star, winning competitions and ultimately his modeling gig. Everyone, everywhere, all the time complimented him. It was crazy. I remember going places with him, and when he was late teens to early 20s, women of all ages were embarrassingly overt lol. In heat is more like it. But everything he’s ever done his entire life has been extreme. He had to be the best at everything, put in the nonstop work and never ever take breaks. And it started in high school. Finding that important balance is so important, and giving yourself the okay to relax, take vacations, live and laugh isn’t anything to ignore for any of us.

    • Betsy says:

      Even us fatties go through the food misery – without the compensation of looking socially acceptable. It’s really a mind *uck that very very few of us are actually just eating for nutrition and fuel and togetherness. It’s a stone around our necks.

      • Spicecake38 says:

        I bet you are lovely no matter your size,add to that I have been everything from size 2 up to size 16/18.My heaviest years were the ones when I dieted the most.And a mind *uck it is..
        Ironic to say the least,oh and unfair.

  14. lamaga says:

    She’s saying she ate/eats like at least 50% of the celebrity world. Those standards are beyond f’d but I am hardly surprised.

  15. Valiantly Varnished says:

    I actually like the entire outfit including the matching boots.

  16. Ellie says:

    Maybe the Reputation era around 2017/18 was when she felt the most scrutiny, because that’s when she started putting on healthy pounds – but I agree that the 1989 era, when she was hanging out with Karlie and the squad, making that 75 questions Vogue video about “well if calories didn’t count” was when it seemed like she might outwardly like she was as struggling the most. It was probably an extra layer of hard hanging out with very thin models. We can never really know, and it’s something a LOT of us deal with and don’t talk about, so good for her for talking about it and I hope she’s doing OK now.

  17. Lucy2 says:

    I already really dislike pregnancy speculation about celebrities, when the tabloids point it out and circle their stomachs, and hearing what that did to her makes me mad for her.

    • Sarah says:

      Right? I look 20 weeks pregnant all the time. I cannot imagine being photographed every damn day and having rumours swirl if I’m a touch bloated leaving yoga from holding in farts for an hour.

  18. lobstah says:

    I wonder if that has anything to do with why she and Karlie grew apart. When one of you is no longer starving to stay so skinny and no longer in on the unhealthy behavior, it can cause a rift.

    • Veronica S. says:

      IMO, it says a lot to me how much weight Karlie herself put on after she hooked up with Kushner. Not a lot by any means, but she clearly went from a hardcore thin model look to something slim but more normal looking. She gained the moment her financial status wasn’t wholly reliant on her industry presence, which says to me she had the leverage to argue her weight up a tad with her clients. You can only imagine what younger models with less resources deal with.

  19. Yasmine says:

    Remember that interview with her former guitar teacher on the NY daily news? He confirms that her family lied and pretty much made up a lot of stuff, including how she was taught the guitar.

    At one point he mentions the strange and unhealthy dynamic with the mother, who went to get the younger brother taco bell. And when Swift asked for some, she replied with: ‘no one wants a fat pop star’ and made her eat a salad. I remember thinking: there’s no way you can have a healthy image and relationship with food if that’s how your mother treats you and shames you (legit fatphobia). That guitar teacher basically described the mother as a stage mom who is very controlling. And it all kind of makes sense now when I think of how controlling Swift is too.

  20. Onomo says:

    Yay Taylor for speaking out. But also – just a reminder that you can be any body size – even *bese- and have a severe and deadly restrictive eating disorder. Eating disorders are not a body size but thoughts of hating your body and at times behaviors. Atypical anorexia (where you don’t eat enough and are a higher weight than typical anorexia) also kills people. Thin white women like Taylor are considered one of the only manifestations of an eating disorder by MDs and nurses who aren’t well educated in the matter, but there are lots of brown, black, masculine and feminine presenting people who don’t look like Taylor and who are suffering greatly and not getting help. Just remember that before you comment on someone’s body size and health.

    • Sarah says:

      THIS. Thank you for saying this.

    • Some chick says:

      Yes. It took me a long-azz time to even realize I had eating issues because I am not skinny, and I really don’t care that I’m not skinny. It’s not about appearance, for me. Finally got into weekly therapy (thanks, Obama!) and chipping away at it. It’s hard. But it’s important.

      Yay for Tay for speaking out! It’s a big deal, very brave, and who knows how many of her fans will be helped by this.

  21. Scollins says:

    I’ve always loved Taylor’s music as an inspiration for my daughters. And her looks, not for how slim she was since my leggy girls went through a naturally waif-like period in early teens, looking skinny. Her looks, never too made-up, more natural, and not too revealing clothing. I realize I’m terrifically fortunate my girls have never been weight focused. I believe it’s because food was never a reward, we rarely ate out, rarely had desserts,no sweets in the house. Also no soft drinks readily available. I look forward to watching Taylor’s special when my girls come for spring break.

  22. anneliser says:

    It is sad that she was made to feel that she had to be so thin. Wish I could say I were surprised. I actually find her much more beautiful at her current size (which of course is still extremely slender for a woman her height).

  23. Case says:

    It’s scary to look back at old photos of her and comparing them to how she looks now. She was SO skinny. She looks so vibrant and happy and healthy now. I truly hope she is. Good on her for revealing this, because it will probably help a lot of people.

  24. Laura says:

    Size 6 at her height is still really thin, but I think she’s a naturally willowy person. Glad she’s talking about it, and glad we’re starting to see more normal body types represented in Hollywood.

    • Casey says:

      its not that much abut height, it’s build. you can be incredibly tall but very petite. height and waist measurements are not linked. I’m tall (taller thn her) and incredibly broad, she’s tall and incredibly petite in build. even if we weighed the same we’d not be the same size because our skeletal system is built differently, she’d be smaller.

  25. Miss b says:

    I have never liked her more than right now. Someone close to me almost died from anorexia. It’s not shameful and we need to normalize talking about it. Good job, Taylor.

  26. Lala11_7 says:

    I’ve been enjoying the heck outta of Taylor quantifying my intuition about her…Evolution takes time and can be a beautiful thang!

    • Nikki* says:

      I also was thinking how she spoke up politically against Trump, didn’t rushed to publicize her present romance, and now is speaking up about eating disorders. I think she experienced a very controlled upbringing, and it’s a joy to see her becoming her own woman. Glad you looked to her best side!

  27. Veronica S. says:

    Not particularly shocking, to be honest. She was model thin during the 1987 years and hanging around with models. You know, that industry where up to 50% of the people in it admit to having an eating disorder? This whole idea of 5’11” women being 130 pounds max is a dangerous joke. The number that fall into that range “naturally” with normal calorie counts and routine, basic exercise are pretty slim. I’d imagine most women her age and height in Hollywood are either cutting calories extensively or exercising like mad to maintain that insane standard, particularly once they get past their twenties, neither of which is necessarily “healthy” even as their bodies get touted around as fit.

  28. Xantha says:

    https://people.com/celebrity/tim-tebow-taylor-swift-dating-source-says-they-had-friendly-dinner/

    People at the time of the article were of course at the time focused on the idea of her and Tim Tebow dating, but I remember raising an eyebrow at her only having a latte at what is supposed to be a dinner.
    And anyone else remember that guy who said he gave her guitar lessons saying how her mom would get her brother Taco Bell but Taylor only can have a salad because according to her mom, “No one likes a fat pop star?” If Andrea said that then that would fuck her up. I hope she is in a better place.

    • Nikki* says:

      It reminds me of Jackie Onassis taking her daughter Caroline out to dinner. More than one person overheard her snap,” No, you’re not getting any dessert! No man will ever want to marry you, you’re so fat!!” That was how it was in high society; a famous saying was “A woman can never be too rich or too thin” which is so sad.

  29. Mumbles says:

    What a world we live in when a girl has to say something like “I’m a size 6, and that’s okay.”

    It just all reminds me of the great documentary series “Killing Us Softly” and all its sequels. The premise is that mass advertising has imposed unhealthy and unrealistic “beauty” standards that have eroded women’s self esteem, make them feel bad about themselves (so that you will buy that beauty cream, Botox, hair dye, diet aid) and resulted in many taking extreme measures to try to attain.

    Everyone is now, well duh, but in the 1970s, when it first came out, this was eye-opening. The sad thing is, forty years later, they’re still doing it to women.

  30. HeyThere! says:

    This is powerful! I’m proud of TS and I hope she’s proud of herself because this will reach A BILLION humans. Conversations can be started. This is truly a moment! She seems to be in a much healthier and happy place. I have been a TS fan from day one. Tear drops on my guitar….watched it live as she performed right in front of Tim McGraw! Loved her ever since.

  31. BANANIE says:

    I’m proud of Taylor for coming out and saying this. I think the timing of her style change during reputation was unfortunate, because it made people speculate about her weight a lot when she wore a lot of boxy, unflattering things. She didn’t look bad because of her weight gain. She looked bad because her clothes were hideous.

  32. Emily says:

    I am so proud of Taylor for speaking on this topic. It’s obvious she’s in a better place mentally and physically. She’s more able to be herself and speak about her political views and experience etc. since leaving her old label. It wonder if the people she used to work with were controlling or advised her to be quiet. Something about her changed after she lost popularity after “the receipts” as she needed to validate herself rather than be validated by the public.

  33. Texas says:

    I think so many stars have this issue. Look at the wonderful. Nicole Kidman. She is so skinny that it is scary. I’m of a similar age and an extra pound or two comes really easy. Part of me has those same issues and Would love, love, LOVE being a stick. But I would have to just not eat to be there.

  34. Lisa says:

    Glad she is talking about it and seems to be in a happier, healthy place.

  35. Lowrider says:

    The sample size clothes is why I believe a lot of actresses stay model thin.

  36. Dorothy says:

    Best outfit ever for here I’ll forgive the boots cuz she means it

  37. Purple prankster says:

    I think the flip side of Taylor’s victim complex is that she seems to live for people’s approval. She explains so many things as “they said I was too this so I did that”…and trying to please everyone at once is impossible.

  38. Mrs.Krabapple says:

    I’m glad she’s sharing. Praising women for starving themselves is toxic.

  39. alternative fact says:

    One thing I wish I had known when I was younger is that many women continue developing throughout their twenties. I also had anorexia in my teens, up until about 25, and I completely freaked out when I hit 30 and my proportions changed. Maybe if we normalized that, fewer people would feel like failures for not wearing the same jeans they did in high school. I look back at pictures and my proportions are completely different. A weight that was fine for me at age 18 would make me look really sick now. It’s sick that our culture tells women we need to look like underweight 14 year olds or we’re unacceptable. It sounds like Taylor did a lot of healing during her year off and I wish her the best.

  40. virginfangirls says:

    I called it. To be so thin then suddenly gain 30 lbs (my estimate) at the age she did. Perhaps a pregnancy might lead to that, or medication, or you had an eating disorder and had overcome it.

  41. Naddie says:

    If I was remotely famous I’d have an eating disorder too, same with living around wealthy people who are the ones that set the skinny rail trend.

  42. Den says:

    the tragedy is that even “naturally skinny” people would be told to lose weight by their modelling / acting agency.

  43. Sarah says:

    Whitney Cummings actually said the exact same thing years ago, about being complimented on fitting into sample sizes on tv shows, by stylists, etc.—it helped fuel her disordered eating/exercising too for a long time.

  44. CherryL says:

    Of course she has an eating disorder. Do people really still think that someone with normal healthy eating habits is that skinny? It’s ridiculous what kind of body image we have now. Someone who is very much underweight is considered healthy looking.