Portia DeGeneres (professionally known as Portia de Rossi) is a celebrity that I cannot help but be drawn to—as she is a lesbian who has previously struggled with anorexia. The question as to whether or not her anorexia was due to her closeted sexual orientation, for me, remains unclear.
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OK, not a diary. … This book is a memoir, however it receives an honorary mention for being an eating disorder autobiography written by a lesbian. In this gripping bestseller, celebrity actress and now wife of Ellen Degeneres, Portia de Rossi, recounts how suppressing her sexuality for fear of ruining her acting career helped foster her startlingly negative self-image which, in turn, fuelled her eating disorder.
Written in diary entries, this book tells of how Chelsea’s parents’ divorce and sexual abuse by a neighbour result in the negative self-image that lead to her anorexia and bulimia. There are many Christian references in the text.
I love the angle of this book: a mother’s and daughter’s diary entries published side-by-side from a time when the daughter was suffering from eating disorders. Tara is angry with her mother for focusing on her career and turns the anger on herself by developing anorexia and bulimia. The book also includes retrospective comment from both mother and daughter.
Written in diary format, this book tells the story of Constance Barter’s anorexia from the age of thirteen. Constance eats half a yoghurt and a cherry tomato a day, and exercises until she collapses. At age fourteen she spends seven months in hospital, keeping a diary record of her journey to recovery.
Although it reads like diary entries, only parts of the book are dated, for example ‘Winter 1978.’ At the age of eleven Lori Gottlieb begins a diary. Her first entry proclaims that she wants to be the thinnest girl on the planet and that there is nothing else for a girl to wish for. This is a story of treatment for, and recovery from, anorexia.
The theme for this year’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week is ‘Sock it to Eating Disorders.’ Beat is encouraging fundraising by inviting you to:
More info here: b-eat.co.uk/support-us/get-involved/eating-disorders-awareness-week.