Zara McDermott says social media ‘plays a factor’ in causing eating disorders

The reality TV star said she reflected on her own content after receiving messages saying it was damaging

Zara McDermott has said that social media “plays a factor” in causing eating disorders, as she discussed her own role as an Instagram influencer.

The former Love Island star and campaigner discussed disordered eating during an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Friday (2 December).

The 25-year-old opened up about her own social media content, documenting her weight-loss journey, and its impact on other users, after she started to receive messages from fans saying that her content was “damaging” them.

“I was starting to get a lot of messages from people saying that the content was having the opposite effect and was damaging them and I thought that was a really interesting area to look into,” she said.

She said that the messages made her feel “really, really sad”.

“At first, I was really confused because I didn’t really understand,” she explained. “I thought I was doing the right thing, I thought I was doing good by what I was posting, but actually I think it took a lot of guts to actually sit there and say, ‘OK, I’m happy to listen to criticism’.”

She continued: “I'm all about advocating for a healthy lifestyle... but there comes a point where social media gives you a point to emulate what you're seeing, and that's where it gets to dangerous territory, and people start copying what they're seeing.

“We know that social media doesn't cause eating disorders but it does play a factor in the development or exacerbation of someone’s eating disorder.”

McDermott’s has now created a documentary for BBC Three called Disorded Eating, which explores the issue in more detail.

It follows two previous documentaries exploring revenge porn and rape culture that McDermott has been involved with.

McDermott, who worked as a policy advisor for the Department of Education before taking part in the reality show in 2018, hopes to raise awareness about issues affecting young people through her work.

Her comments come days after she attended Buckingham Palace as part of the Queen Consort’s event raising awareness of violence against women and girls.