Lacy Schwimmer has been a dancer on Dancing with the Stars for three seasons now and no one every realized that during this whole time she has been struggling with an eating disorder. Last week, she spoke with Maria Menounos from Access Hollywood and explained that in the upcoming issue of InTouch magazine she talks about her illness and the photos of her in the magazine from when she was too thin. In reference to the photo of her in pajamas she said,

“My waist is insanely thin; my hair was starting to fall out; it was getting thin. My skin looked gray and that’s when… I was like, ‘Alright, this isn’t cool.’ I saw other girls that were healthy and happy at my age and I was not like that whatsoever.”

Lacey explained that her disorder started when she was just 13 years old and she was dancing 10 hours a day. At the time she would only eat a packet of turkey a day and she would often skip meals. She said,

“I skipped breakfast and I would eat at around like 2, 3 o’clock and then I would have a candy bar for dinner and just drink orange juice throughout the day.”

At the age of 18, the dancer discovered that Britney Spears was taking diet pills so she too did the same. Then at 19 when she joined DWTS she relapsed into bad behaviors and wasn’t eating and continued to abuse diet pills. After a couple of seasons on the show feeling big and guilty she has finally learned to love what she sees in the mirror. She said,

“I am comfortable in my own skin finally.”

Perhaps in the upcoming issue of In Touch will learn how she actually beat the eating disorder.

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The twin sisters Monica and Gabriella are The Cheeky Girls, a Euro pop duo singing cheeky little songs that you’ve probably heard in the dance club.  In 2002 when they got their first hit single they were normal healthy girls who studied ballet when young and were studying to become lawyers.  But the pressures of being in the spotlight, together with their record company Telstar going bankrupt, caused them to get depressed and drop heaps of weight.  They went to extremes when it came to both diet and exercise.  They were eating only 500 calories a day, exercising excessively and taking laxatives in preparation for concerts.  Monica explained,

“We’d always loved running, it helped us relax,” says Monica, “but it became more of a quick fix to make us feel better. We ran for longer periods, maybe an hour instead of 30 minutes, twice a day.”

In 2004 the girls were down to approximately 100 pounds and they suffered many of the side-effects of anorexia including stomach ulcers, kidney stones, their skinned changed to a yellowish tinge and they lost their libido.

In 2006 they finally realized the type of life they were living.  They couldn’t wear clothes they wanted to wear, couldn’t go out and party with friends and everything revolved around calorie counting and not eating.  The sisters did get help and are now healthy once again.  This week they’ve launched a new line of beauty products hoping to inspire young girls to not idolize skinny celebrities but to embrace their own beauty.

“It’s true that anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric condition and happens for different reasons, but teenagers, in particular, are so influenced by skinny celebrities and want to copy them,” says Monica. “We want to get this message across to the young girls the Cheeky Girls Collection is aimed at. We want to let them know we have been down that road and suffered the consequences.”

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America’s Next Top Model contestant, London Levi, spoke with E! Online about her experiences on the show and her surprising weight gain while filming.  Most girls on the show lose weight as the weeks go by as they struggle to stay in the competition but London actually gained 15 pounds.  She explained,

“When I went to the competition, I was recovering from an eating disorder, so my self-confidence was already kind of shaky because of my experience with my problem beforehand.  And, I’m pretty sure it did show in my photo shoots.”

London said that she suffered from eating disorders all through junior high and high school up until shortly before starting America’s Next Top Model.

“I never realized how long I’d had it until I talked to someone professionally,” she says. “But it never got supersevere until my senior year in high school, which was actually just this past year. This past year up until right before I went on to the show is when it got most severe.”

On the episode she was eliminated one of the judges, Jay Manuel, pulled London aside and asked her why she was gaining weight because he was shocked to see how she gained it so quickly.  London responded,

“My body just keeps gaining weight, and it really is freaking me out because I don’t feel comfortable at this weight. Coming into this, I felt a lot more confident, a lot more beautiful, and I just need to lose weight in a healthy way.”

At the end of the interview London explained that she hopes to continue modeling even though she was eliminated but she hopes to someday become a youth minister.

Amy Winehouse has spent the majority of the past six months in St Lucia and for awhile everyone thought she was doing better with her battle with anorexia, drugs and alcohol.  But after her awkward performance and fall on stage last week at the St Lucia jazz festival people are beginning to wonder.  Meanwhile, over this six month time period, Amy’s family has been filming a documentary called ‘Saving Amy.’  Amy’s father said,

“I’m worried when I get a phone call from her or her security, because I don’t know what bad news I may get. But when I don’t hear from her, I’m worried as well.”

Although it seems the drug addiction has subsided people are still concerned about the excess of drinking and lack of eating.  At a welcome dinner for the film crew last month it was reported she was shaking so much that she couldn’t serve the food and during dinner she just played around with her food and didn’t eat.  Her father said,

“If you saw her in that dark room, in bed, you couldn’t believe we would be here now. But now, if it is alcohol instead of drugs – I don’t think I can go through it again. I’ve distanced myself and whatever happens, happens. It is her life. It is her decision.”

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Last month we reported that Tori Spelling was settling into motherhood and successfully dealing with the pressure to be thin in Hollywood. She seemed to be on the right track.  But now, the tabloids are starting to buzz because she looks exceptionally thin.  In the upcoming issue of Star Magazine, they reported that Tori Spelling has dropped under 100 pounds due to the stresses caused by her mother Candy Spelling writing the book called, Stories from Candyland.

Tori and her mother have not been on good terms for years, so the magazine made the assumption that Tori was losing weight because of this.  A source for Star Magazine said,

“Tori’s so stressed over her mom’s new book, she has no appetite but is still exercising every day. Her friends are all worried that she may be anorexic. She’s now down to a size zero.”

However, Tori’s representative has set the record straight by talking to Access Hollywood and denied the claims that Tori is now at 98 pounds and is anorexic.

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