Roz Purcell admits she used to ‘punish’ her body in emotional post about eating disorders

Roz Purcell has admitted that she used to “punish” her body, as she shared an emotional post to mark eating disorder awareness week.

The 28-year-old, who represented Ireland at Miss Universe in the US in 2010, has opened up about how “miserable” she was during the early stages of her modelling career.

Taking to Instagram, Roz wrote, “It’s coming to an end of ED ( eating disorder) awareness week. I hadn’t really planned on putting anything up, it feels like another lifetime & even though I’ve spoken about my food and body struggles on here in the past it never gets any easier..”

“I feel sad looking back, I wasted so many years putting myself down, missing opportunities and worst of all not being me around my friends and family.( sorry ❤️) I know I was miserable.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Happy Friday guys! It’s coming to an end of ED ( eating disorder) awareness week. I hadn’t really planned on putting anything up,it feels like another lifetime & even though I’ve spoken about my food and body struggles on here in the past it never gets any easier.. I feel sad looking back, I wasted so many years putting myself down, missing opportunities and worst of all not being me around my friends and family.( sorry ❤️) I know I was miserable. The girl on the left looked at her body as something that was purely for show never once did I think how well my body held all my organs in place or was in anyway grateful for my health. I resented it, I punished it, binged, threw up, purged, on repeat, while pretending everything was fine. I used to always just think this was me, this was just how I would always be towards my body and food……but thankfully that’s just not true. I get loads of messages after I post about this subject asking what helped me. But to be honest everyones journey will be different and for me it was a handful of things that all seemed to happen in one year, along with reaching out for help through therapy it made me realise how lucky I was and how important it was for me to change and start being me again. There’s so many people & organisations to reach out to like @bodywhys . And I hope this week has brought some awareness and help to those who need it. I wish I could go back and talk to my younger self sometimes, but I can’t & I guess that’s why it’s good to talk about it now so maybe even one person will go ask for help❤️ #edawareness #eatingdisorderawarenessweek

A post shared by ROZ PURCELL (@rozannapurcell) on Feb 28, 2019 at 11:50pm PST

Sharing a photo of the way she looked back then, Roz confessed, “The girl on the left looked at her body as something that was purely for show never once did I think how well my body held all my organs in place or was in anyway grateful for my health.”

“I resented it, I punished it, binged, threw up, purged, on repeat, while pretending everything was fine. I used to always just think this was me, this was just how I would always be towards my body and food……but thankfully that’s just not true.”

She continued, “I get loads of messages after I post about this subject asking what helped me. But to be honest everyones journey will be different and for me it was a handful of things that all seemed to happen in one year, along with reaching out for help through therapy it made me realise how lucky I was and how important it was for me to change and start being me again.”

 

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A post shared by ROZ PURCELL (@rozannapurcell) on Feb 14, 2019 at 11:26pm PST

Roz concluded her post by encouraging those who are suffering to seek help by contacting Bodywhys, the Eating Disorders Association of Ireland.

“There’s so many people & organisations to reach out to like @bodywhys . And I hope this week has brought some awareness and help to those who need it,” she wrote.

“I wish I could go back and talk to my younger self sometimes, but I can’t & I guess that’s why it’s good to talk about it now so maybe even one person will go ask for help.”