Carre Otis

Anorexia was there for me before I got into modeling, but because of the arena and the demands, the disease really got out of control for me. It’s like being an alcoholic and going and being a bartender.

You have to find a balance with food in your life – you can’t take out food. It can be absolutely terrifying.

I had dropped out of school and was a runaway, so I didn’t have family to fall back on if I didn’t work. I didn’t have a lot of other options of making money other than modeling.

I am not naturally that thin, so I had to go through everything from using drugs to diet pills to laxatives to fasting. Those were my main ways of controlling my weight.

The pressure was if I didn’t get into that dress size someone else would – someone else would get the job.

I had my first seizure, and I had to go in for heart surgery.

Part of treatment for drugs and alcohol is you abstain from these, but with eating disorders you can’t abstain from food so the treatment is longer than drugs and alcohol.

My doctor felt that the main contributing factor was so many years of malnutrition, especially during my formative years, even before I got into modeling.

It not unusual for women with anorexia to suffer heart attacks.

We come in many different shapes and sizes, and we need to support each other and our differences. Our beauty is in our differences.

Many women who have anorexia put their hearts in a compromised situation.