5 Male Stars Who've Had Eating Disorders

Elton John got help from his good friend ... Princess Di
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 1, 2014 10:40 AM CST
5 Male Stars Who've Had Eating Disorders
Billy Bob Thornton lost 59 pounds for a movie role, and then 'got anorexic.'   (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen)

Not every Hollywood star who's struggled with an eating disorder has been female. Radar rounds up 11 male celebrities who've battled the problem. A sampling:

  • Dennis Quaid: After losing 40 pounds to play the dying Doc Holliday in Wyatt Earp, he started struggling with what he called "manorexia" and ended up getting treatment. "I’d look in the mirror and still see a 180 pound guy, even though I was 138 pounds," he said. "For many years, I was obsessed about what I was eating, how many calories it had, and how much exercise I’d have to do."
  • Billy Bob Thornton: After filming U-Turn, he lost 59 pounds, and once said, "I think I had a little mental problem. I got anorexic; of course, I denied it to my girlfriend and everyone else who said I had an eating disorder."

  • Elton John: He struggled with bulimia, and so did his friend Princess Di. They often talked about it, and he says her support helped him get healthy. So did rehab in 1990.
  • Russell Brand: As an overweight teen, he became bulimic at 14, he once said. "I had problems with food and self-harming ... my feeling about my childhood was that it was lonely and difficult." He struggled with the eating disorder again when he entered rehab, but is now recovered.
  • Richard Simmons: Before he became a fitness icon, he struggled with compulsive eating—and then tried diet pills, laxatives, starving himself, and purging after binges before ultimately recovering.
Click for the complete list, including one star who says it's "shameful" for men to struggle with eating disorders. (More celebrity stories.)

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