Pressure To Be Skinny: How Hilary Duff Got Eating Disorder At 17

It's not surprising that female actors across entertainment industries have dealt with insurmountable pressures to maintain a certain body weight and look a certain way. These pressures have either caused depression among some women or have led to many developing eating disorders and surrendering to the norm. In a bare-all conversation recently, actor-singer Hilary Duff revealed her experience with a horrifying eating disorder that was challenging in more ways than one.

Hilary Duff, who rose to fame with Disney's Lizzie McGuire, opened up about the challenging times she went through after she developed an eating disorder as a teenage star in the public eye.

Suggested reading: Eating Disorders In Young People On Rise: Signs Parents Need To Watch Out For

Hilary Duff Eating Disorder

In a recent interview, Duff, who currently stars in How I Met Your Father, discussed her journey towards becoming healthy in a real sense and how her earlier experiences helped her in finding the true meaning of strength.

Duff was just 13 when she starred in one of Disney's most loved Lizzie McGuire in 2001. She not only became a star overnight but also found solid ground in terms of opportunities that lay ahead for her in films and television.

The 35-year-old actor revealed how she had gotten to 98 pounds at some point when she was a teenager and it was worrying for her in every sense.

"There was a time when I was obsessed with everything I was putting in my mouth. I was conscious to such a point because I constantly told myself that female actors are supposed to be skinny. That's how conversations flowed back then," she said. Sharing how lacking the right nutrition and being obsessed with staying thin led her to suffer from an eating disorder that made her too skinny and her hands cramped up most of the time.

Duff said, "Getting older, I appreciate my health by doing activities that make me strong instead of just focusing on the outside."

The actor, who will be seen in the second season of Hotstar's How I Met Your Father soon, reflected on how she maintains her peace with her body now and doesn't bother about the criteria female actors are reduced to. She shared that spending time with people who share similar thought processes as her and value body positivity more than anything is what keeps her going.

She discussed how experiences of motherhood helped her appreciate her body even more and the fact that it produced three children for her made her more grateful. The actor shares a 10-year-old son with her ex-spouse Mike Comrie, and two daughters with spouse Matthew Koma.