Kara DioGuardi, a song writer and latest American Idol judge recently opened up about her past and said that when she was younger she had an eating disorder.  She told Extra,

“I had kind of a binge eating disorder where instead of dealing with my emotions, I would stuff them down with food.  I actually went into a treatment center for it.”

The 38-year-old songstress said she never induced vomiting nor starved herself but there was an emotional connection to her excessive eating.  She explained,

“It was definitely that excess eating to kind of just stuff all the emotions down … I really was a creative kid who didn’t know she was creative and didn’t have those outlets because I was always afraid to join the theater group and not perform.” She continues, “The moment I started doing music, the moment I did what I loved to do in my life and committed to it, I don’t have those problems anymore … I have my outlet.  I have that form of expression. I can go to the studio and talk about my feelings.”

In hopes of helping others with addictions, Ms. DioGuardi has built a recording studio in a Los Angeles treatment center, Phoenix House.  Music is a therapeutic technique to help addicts recover.  She said she still has moments where she feels she has to be perfect but she has continued to control her former binge-eating habits.

“But I made this commitment in my life to face my fears,” says DioGuardi, “and if I am afraid of something I make sure I do it.”

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