This is why Tess Holliday sharing her anorexia story is important, say eating disorder experts

After plus-size model Holliday spoke openly about recovering from an eating disorder, Saman Javed speaks to experts about how perceived association between anorexia and body type can delay treatment

Tess Holliday at the the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards (Getty Images for The Recording A)

Eating disorder experts have welcomed American plus-size model Tess Holliday’s announcement that she is recovering from anorexia, saying they hope it will dispel the common misconception that “only very underweight people” can have the illness.

In a post to her Twitter account earlier this week, on 1 May, 35-year-old Holliday told her almost 100,000 followers that she is currently receiving treatment for the eating disorder. She posted: “I’m anorexic and in recovery. I’m not ashamed to say it out loud anymore.

“I’m the result of a culture that celebrates thinness and equates that to worth, but I get to write my own narrative now. I’m finally able to care for a body that I’ve punished my entire life and I am finally free,” she wrote.