Real Housewives of Orange County star Emily Simpson is opening up about the "very overwhelming" diagnosis her young son, Luke, recently received.
In a new interview with People, the reality star revealed that the 10-year-old suffers from ARFID, or Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, which is an eating disorder that causes food restriction, but is not “caused by a negative self-image or a desire to change your body weight," according to the Cleveland Clinic, like Anorexia or Bulemia.
Simpson believed that Luke, like many kids, was simply an incredibly picky eater, until he stopped eating altogether. After seeing a therapist, he was diagnosed with the mental health disorder, which sparks "fear and anxiety about food or the consequences of eating." People with ARFID may avoid eating due to the fear of choking or vomiting, or decline food because of "unwanted color, taste, texture or smell."
In Luke's case, "he's very overwhelmed by texture, color, smells." Simpson explained, "He will only eat white rice. And he has to inspect each piece of rice before he eats it. So it's beyond picky eating. A lot of control issues. It's very overwhelming.”
The diagnosis will be chronicled in season 19 of RHOC, which Simpson admitted she often "didn’t even know if [she] could continue to film" due to the stress and uncertainty.
“There were so many times when he would say he was starving… because he was starving. But he would refuse to eat. And as a mom, that was so frustrating," she explained. "I didn't know what to do because on one hand he's crying and telling me he's starving, and on the other hand, he refuses to eat anything that I offer."
“Every day is challenging,” she added.
Today, Luke's therapist and nutritionist help him to improve, and he's added french fries, sliced bananas, potato chips, ice cream and plain turkey that “doesn't have any lines or blemishes in it” to his diet, and they continue to work on ways to decrease his fears and anxieties surrounding food.
While Simpson has some concerns that being so open about Luke's diagnosis may lead kids or parents at school to say something, she's more hopeful that her transparency will help others going through the same thing—something Bruce Willis and Demi Moore's youngest daughter Tallulah Willis also aims to do, as she has struggled with the same disorder.
Related: Fans Call Bruce Willis' Daughter Tallulah a 'Rockstar' as She Shares Candid Health Up 'Bravo to You'
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