Tom Daley has opened up about his body image issues and past struggles with disordered eating, saying that “it was a dark time”.
The retired Olympian previously revealed in his 2021 memoir, Coming Up for Air, that he believes pressure from the sports industry in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games led to him developing body dysmorphia and bulimia.
Now, speaking about the topic in a new interview with Radio Times to promote his Channel 4 show The Game of Wool: Britain's Best Knitter, Daley said: "There was so much pressure. It was a home Olympic Games. When was I ever going to get a chance to dive in front of a home crowd again, with all my friends and family there?
"I was also aware that the funding of British diving was sitting on my shoulders because if we didn’t win a medal, funding for diving was going to be cut. So it was huge pressure and I struggled with all kinds of things in the build-up to that – eating disorder issues and anxiety issues."
Asked when he realised he had an eating disorder, he added: "At the end of 2011, I realised that people within British diving were looking at me as not just a diver, but also what I actually looked like. I got told I was overweight."
Daley continued: “I had absolutely no idea what I was doing at that time, so I just cut out food. I was just not fuelling myself appropriately. I wasn’t giving myself enough calories to be able to properly train. I used to get so hungry that I’d binge. Then when I binged, I’d feel so bad that I was bulimic for a while.
“It was a dark time because I didn’t have anyone to talk to about it. Men weren’t meant to talk about their eating disorders back then.”
“Or their feelings at all. It’s only as the years have gone by that it’s become easier to talk about these things. Once I was able to start sharing some of those things, I was able to get out of that spiral, but it was a year when I was really trying to figure out what I was doing with my body. It really does damage you for a long time.”
“I grew up in a time when coaches were able to shout at you. It’s very different now. And this has created a more empowered athlete.”
Daley went on to add that he still struggles with body dysmorphia, saying: “My husband’s been a huge support in that. I think it’s a big thing in the gay world, if I’m honest. Some people have very unrealistic body expectations.”
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