Taylor Swift Says Her Relationship With Food And Body Image Was Really 'Unhealthy'

Trigger warning: This story contains language discussing consuming food disorders and disordered eating.


Miss Americana, the new documentary centering Taylor Swift, is set to hit Netflix accounts next Friday (January 31). But in the lead-up to the film's debut, the pop star is beginning up about some of the issues she discusses on-screen, including her experiences with body image and punishing her body to adhere to a nearly-impossible common of beauty.


"I didn’t know if I was going to feel comfortable with talking about body image and talking about the stuff I’ve gone through in terms of how unhealthy that’s been for me — my relationship with food and all that over the years," she told Variety in an interview. She adds that she's not a professional and can only ever speak about her lived experience: "I’m not as articulate as I should be about this topic because there really are so several people who could talk about it in a higher end way," Swift mentioned. Nevertheless all I know is my own experience. And my relationship with food was exactly the same psychology that I applied to everything else in my life: If I was given a pat on the head, I registered that as good. If I was given a punishment, I registered that as bad."


The documentary specifics what some of these "good" and "bad" experiences included — hearing stylists and magazine editors praise her body once it was smaller served as a reinforcement that fitting into sample sizes was something desire to, while harsh commentary that speculated about the singer's weight or a rumored pregnancy would trigger harmful habits, like restricting food and over-exercising. The double reinforcement took a toll on her physical wellbeing, and lose end concerts feeling depleted.


"I thought that I was supposed to feel like I was going to pass out at the end of a show, or in the middle of it,” she says in the documentary, per Variety. At the time, she would defend herself by lying about how much food she was consuming: "‘What are you talking about? Certainly I eat. …. I physical training a lot,’" she remembers saying. "And I did exercise a lot. Nevertheless I wasn’t eating."


“Now I realize, no, in the event you eat food, have energy, get stronger, you could do all these shows and not feel (enervated)," Swift added.


The singer is by no means alone in her struggle; according to the National Consuming food Disorders Association (NEDA), 79 percent of ladies and 85 percent of women said they have skipped essential events in their lives because of how they felt about their bodies at the time. "Nine out of 10 ladies mention they plan to actually not eat and risk putting their health at stake whenever they feel bad about their body image," one study noticed, "and 7 in 10 ladies mentioned they're more likely to be much less assertive in their decisions whenever they're feeling insecure." Gentlemen, men, and nonbinary people experience disordered consuming food as a result of body insecurity, too; and trans and nonbinary people experience consuming food disorders at higher rates than cisgender peers. In addition, obtaining help is complicated for almost each person, given punitive insurance companies that often force people to prove how "sick" they are, and also a pervasive diet culture that all although normalizes restrictive, often disordered eating.


In her Variety interview, Swift added that she often finds support to combat negative talk through uplifting social media accounts. She pointed to actor and activist Jameela Jamil, whose I Weigh account on Instagram routinely debunks the idea that your self-worth is rooted in how your body looks. "She’s one of the people who, any time While I read what she says, it sticks with me also it assists the me," the singer mentioned. Females are contained to such a silly regular of aesthetics. We’re seeing so much on social media that makes us feel like we are far less than, or we’re not what we should be, that you sort of require a mantra to repeat in your head as soon as you begin to have harmful or unhealthy thoughts," she said.


Miss Americana director Lana Wilson hopes Swift's experience furthers the shift to focus much less on someone else's body that activists have been championing for years. "It’s astonishing to me how folks are always like, ‘You look skinny’ or ‘You’ve gained weight,’" Wilson told Variety. "People you barely know mention this to you. Also it feels awful, and you also can’t win either way. So I think it’s really brave to be able to see someone who is a role model for so several ladies and ladies be really trustworthy about that. I think it will have a large impact."


If you or someone you know is struggling with disordered consuming food or mental health, head to halfofus.Com for ways to get help.