Keira Knightly, Eating Disorder

Posted by Lori Henry Jan 24, 2007

The Daily Mail published a picture of Keira Knightly in a bikini at the beach. The article that accompanied the photo claimed that she had lied about suffering from an eating disorder.

She is suing on the suggestion that she has lied about being sick and that she is responsible for the recent deaths of models who had suffered from anorexia.

The photo shows her walking out of the water. Although her body is skinny and muscular, this in no way implies that she has an eating disorder. What this ordeal does point out, though, is how quick the public is to blame someone for a much bigger problem.

I usually don’t find myself defending situations such as these, but I think it shows how little people know about anorexia and bulimia. You can’t tell if a person is sick by the size of their body.

I was bulimic for many years and my size didn’t change much at all. Conversely, I know many people who were harassed as children and teenagers because they couldn’t gain weight to save their lives.

Eating disorders are a serious epidemic, but that is no reason to blame celebrities without knowing anything about them. I’m not condoning ALL skinny celebrities, but let’s not waste our time pointing our fingers at them when we could be doing much more meaningful and effective work.