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Fearne Cotton has opened up about her struggle with bulimia for the first time.
Speaking on the podcast, “How to Fail with Elizabeth Day” , the broadcaster described the eating disorder as “intense”.
“I had [bulimia] on-off for a good decade of my life,” explaining that it “ruled everything” in her early 20s when it was at its worst.
The 38-year-old said her bulimic behaviours became more erratic as she got older and it became something she would go to when she was feeling particularly emotional or like she was lacking control in her life.
“It took quite a while physically to kind of move on from that, but mentally a very long time,” Cotton added.
Show all 14 1 /1414 women using social media to change the world 14 women using social media to change the world Marley Dias @iammarleydias At just 11 years old, Marley Dias gained international attention in 2016 after becoming frustrated with the lack of diversity in her school curriculum. What followed was a viral social media campaign, #1000blackgirlbooks, calling for titles featuring black girls as protagonists to be donated. Nearly 4,000 books were donated, and Dias now tackles prejudice and advocates for diversity in literature.
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14 women using social media to change the world Rina Sawayama @rinasonline Rina Sawayama came in a blaze of neon and sci-fi coolness in early 2016 when she released the single 'Where U Are', which explored how humans interact with digital media. Since then, the singer and model from north London has been a trailblazer for intersectional feminism. Whether it’s singing about her experiences as a pansexual woman or starting Twitter conversations about cultural appropriation in the media, Sawayama has taken both the music world and social media by storm with her politically vibrant work. A quick look at her Instagram account (@rinasonline) will reveal a confident woman who is not afraid to voice her opinions to her 141,000 followers.
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14 women using social media to change the world Chidera Eggerue @theslumflower At only 24 years old, Eggerue came to prominence with her viral 2017 social media campaign #SaggyBoobsMatter. 'It was only small-boobed women who were ‘allowed’ to not wear a bra,' the author said in an interview with The Guardian . “I couldn’t understand why … I had to challenge it.” Her decision to not wear a bra shouldn’t be deemed radical, yet here she is in 2019 challenging the ideas that women are pressured to confirming too. Women of all ages and shapes use the hashtag to show pride in themselves, as a result of the body positivity Eggerue championed. Her blog, The Slumflower, also discusses sexism, feminism and racism.
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14 women using social media to change the world Scarlett Curtis @scarcurtis You may know her as the writer who exposed Philip Green’s willingness to profit off feminism but reject the idea of having a pink pop-up stall in Topshop back in October 2018. However, Scarlett Curtis is a trail-blazing feminist in other ways too. The author of Feminists Don’t Wear Pink & Other Lies co-founded The Pink Protest – a collective helping young feminist activist to take action online – in 2017, all while using her social media to challenge misogyny whenever she encounters it.
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14 women using social media to change the world Tarana Burke @TaranaBurke Also known as the mother of the #MeToo movement, Tarana Burke is an American social activist who is largely responsible for the international movement against sexual harassment that went viral in October 2017. The phrase was first used in 2006 on Burke’s Myspace account after she responded to a 13-year-old girl who had been sexually assaulted. The hashtag gained traction after actress Alyssa Milano encouraged victims of harassment to tweet the phrase. The call-out followed sexual abuse allegations against disgraced film producter Harvey Weinstein and has been used at least 19 million times on social media. Burke is a life-long activist for victims of sexual assault and harassment and continues to campaign such issues on social media. She has single-handedly changed the conversation on sexual violence.
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14 women using social media to change the world Sophie Sandberg @catcallsofnyc Tired of being unable to walk down the street without being constantly catcalled by men, activist Sophie Sandberg took to Instagram to expose an epidemic rife in society. Armed with multi-coloured chalk, she began documenting the horrific words that had been said to her all over New York in late 2016. Talking to the BBC about the project she stated: 'By writing [catcalls] in the same place that it happened, I hope the words may remember and think "Oh those were my words".' Women around the globe have been inspired by Sandberg’s work and Instagram accounts of women chalking messages have since sprung up from Columbia to Bangladesh.
Sophie Sandberg
14 women using social media to change the world Hannah Witton @hannahwitton Hannah Witton is a sex-positive YouTuber and author who has vlogged candidly about sexual health, relationships and women’s issues since 2011. Over the years, the Mancunian has amassed over 500,000 subscribers. Witton is inspirationally confident and isn’t afraid of talking about her sex life to her thousands of subscribers in videos such as 'How Many People Have I Slept With?' and 'The Benefits of Porn'. The vlogger is also a champion for body positivity (her most viewed video with over 8 million views is about the struggles of large boobs) and invisible illnesses – as she herself suffers from ulcerative colitis and proudly wears a stoma.
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14 women using social media to change the world Adwoa Aboah @adwoaaboah British model Adwoa Aboah is no stranger to the crippling effect of depression having suffered from it herself. This is why the star established the mental health community Gurls Talk. It began in 2015 with an Instagram account and now serves as a place to discuss topics affecting women without any fear of judgement. It has since grown into a weekly podcast and a series of organised events that have brought women together from across the globe. Talking to the BBC about the project, Aboah noted: 'At school there still isn’t a place for girls and boys to realise they’re not alone …There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I promise that.'
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14 women using social media to change the world Laci Green @gogreen18 YouTuber Laci Green has been educating her subscribers on the nuances of sex education for over 10 years and has amassed over 1.4 million subscribers. The vlogger's videos, which are prominent in the sex-positive movement due to their candour, cover topics such as birth control, hormones and abortion in an attempt to remove the stigma surrounding them. Green is also very outspoken against slut-shaming and sexual harassment, being one of the first YouTubers to address the sexual harassment claims levied against vlogger Sam Pepper in 2014.
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14 women using social media to change the world Ash Sarkar @AyoCaesar From describing broadcaster Piers Morgan an 'idiot' to declaring herself a communist on Good Morning Britain , Ash Sarkar is a dynamic journalist making waves on the internet and TV. The north London native champions the rights of women and immigrants on social media, with a Twitter account that is rife with political commentary with a humorous edge. Meanwhile, her Instagram showcases all her campaigning work including protests on climate change and Brexit. Sarkar is also a senior editor at Novara Media – an independent, radical left-wing news organisation.
Ash Sarkar
14 women using social media to change the world Gina Martin @ginamartin Writer and activist Gina Martin hit national headlines when she began a viral campaign to make 'upskirting' illegal. Taking to Facebook, Martin explained how a man took photos of her crotch without her permission and got away with it in a post that subsequently went viral in 2017. She then launched a petition for her case to be reopened and for the action to be made part of the 2003 Sexual Offences Act. Using the hashtag, #StopSkirtingTheIssue, the petition managed to get over 100,000 signatures. As of 2019, 'upskirting' is now illegal and this is largely down to the efforts of Martin. The activist continues to promote feminist causes to her 40,000 Instagram followers.
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14 women using social media to change the world Rowan Blanchard @rowanblanchard When Rowan Blanchard isn’t taking over the world of acting, she’s taking to Twitter and Instagram to talk to her 5.1 million followers about various activist pursuits. The 17-year-old uses her platform to discuss social and economic issues, with topics as diverse as human rights and gun control, and isn’t afraid to give a voice to those who haven’t been heard. Blanchard was very vocal in the aftermath of the Stoneman Douglas shootings earlier this year, talking with activists and highlighting their plight on social media.
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14 women using social media to change the world Liv Little @livlittle As the founder of Gal-dem , a magazine produced by women of colour, Liv Little has gained international recognition for her work in diversifying print media. After becoming frustrated with the lack of representation at Bristol University where Little attended, the 25-year-old created the publication in an attempt to give women of colour a voice in the media. Her business is growing rapidly, alongside Gal-dem’s social media following which stands at more than 111,000. Little can be found on Twitter talking about everything from activism to literature.
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14 women using social media to change the world Kat Blaque @kat_blaque Blaque is a transgender activist who forged her career calling out racism, transphobia and white privilege on her successful YouTube channel of the same name. In an interview with The Huffington Post she said: 'I’m a woman. I’m black. I’m curvy and I’m trans … when I talk about those things, I am literally talking about my embodiment of those intersections.' Her series, 'True Tea', is where she candidly embraces controversial topics in an attempt to change the narrative around them. Videos include 'Why is "LeftTube" So White' and 'Cultures Are Not Costumes'.
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The “Happy Place” podcast host also explained why she hadn’t spoken publicly about her eating disorder before, fearing the media would take her words out of context or that it would impact her career.
Speaking about her recovery, Cotton said that her 30s have been all about “healing” her body through a healthy relationship with diet and exercise.
“I denied myself the pleasure of cooking food for so long, that it’s now become my everything,” she added. “It’s something I’m so passionate about.”
Cotton went on to say that she doesn’t define herself as “a bulimic”.
“I’m not,” she said. “For the last eight years I’ve been very studious with food and very careful about how I eat, how I cook and how I talk about food. I feel really good and recovered. I hope I’m not being naive by saying that but I do feel like that.” You can listen to the full episode here .
Cotton has previously spoken about her relationship with food and why she doesn’t believe in the term “clean eating”.
“Do whatever makes you feel good and if you know it works for you then go for it. If you don’t want to eat wheat, or meat, or dairy then that’s up to you,” she told The Independent.
The NHS describes bulimia as an eating disorder and mental health condition. “People who have bulimia go through periods where they eat a lot of food in a very short amount of time (binge eating) and then make themselves sick, use laxatives or do excessive exercise, or a combination of these, to try to stop themselves gaining weight,” the organisation’s website states .
If you have been affected by the issues in this article, contact Beat via b-eat.co.uk
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