Little Mix's Jade Thirlwall Discusses Anorexia Battle For The First Time

'Anorexia is a self-destructive thing... you start to think people are against you.'
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Little Mix singer Jade Thirlwall has spoken for the first time about her struggle with anorexia, that led to her being hospitalised as a young teenager.

Jade opens up about her eating disorder battle in the band’s new book, ‘Our World’, explaining she developed the illness when she was 13, after going through a particularly difficult time in her personal life.

Jade Thirlwall
Jade Thirlwall
Dave J Hogan via Getty Images

She writes (via The Mirror): “My periods stopped and things were getting out of control but I don’t think I really cared about what was happening to me. I felt so depressed at the time that I just wanted to waste away and disappear.

“Anorexia is a self-destructive thing and you become stubborn, so when people are trying to tell you something you get it into your head that they’re against you and you’re not going to listen.”

Revealing the extent of her illness, Jade continues: “It took going to hospital to make me realise that it wasn’t a game, it was something really serious. They sat me down in the clinic and were quite tough at first, spelling it out: ‘You’re destroying your body and if you keep doing this you will die.’”

Little Mix at the Glamour Women Of The Year Awards earlier this year
Little Mix at the Glamour Women Of The Year Awards earlier this year
David M. Benett via Getty Images

However, Jade goes on to reveal that her story has a happy ending, and she began to conquer her eating disorder with the help of therapy sessions and regular hospital visits.

Jade isn’t the only member of Little Mix to reveal something personal in the new book, though, with Perrie Edwards also detailing her much-publicised split from Zayn Malik.

‘Our World’ is available to buy now.

Useful websites and helplines:
  • Beat, call 0845 634 7650 or email fyp@b-eat.co.uk
  • Samaritans, open 24 hours a day, on 08457 90 90 90
  • Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393
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