Jessie Wynter has been sharing her experience with eating disorders.
The reality star became a favourite with Love Island viewers in early 2023, when she found love on the ITV series with her boyfriend Will Young.
Now, as she continues to settle into life in the UK, Jessie has been opening up about her journey with an eating disorder.
In an interview with OK!, the 27-year-old recalled how her mental health plummeted during her lowest moments.
“When I was in my worst periods of my eating disorder, it was an extremely lonely and isolating period. I think if I had gotten some advice from someone else, it would have been so much more comforting,” she admitted.
“At my lowest point, my relationship with my boyfriend at the time ended. I was too depressed to go to work, and I was so obsessed with getting in more exercise that I couldn’t function with work so I quit my job,” she confessed, adding: “All I had was myself and my small physique.”
Eight months before she appeared on the Australian version of Love Island in 2018, Jessie chose to begin her recovery journey.
Five years later, after returning from the Love Island villa with Will last year, Jessie experienced a small relapse.
“There's a really big misconception that recovery for eating disorders is linear. I would love to say that it was a straight line and it was a fast process, but it wasn't,” the reality star stated.
“My relapse caught me off guard. When I was in the villa, I unintentionally lost a lot of weight and when I came out I got lots of questions about how I got my physique. I felt pressure because I knew that I was going to regain the weight I’d lost. I had a bit of a fear of regaining it, so I tried to maintain that low weight,” she added.
Sharing her advice, Jessie concluded: “Give yourself the love and compassion that you're capable of giving your friends. Put that back into yourself because you truly deserve it.”
