Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall opens up about devastating battle with anorexia

Little Mix star Jade Thirlwall has spoken for the first time about her devastating battle with anorexia, admitting to fans that she could have nearly died if she continued “destroying her body.”

The 23-year-old singer opened up about the heartbreaking condition in the girlband’s new autobiography, Our World, revealing that she was just thirteen years of age when she developed the eating disorder.

Copyright [David Fisher /REX/Shutterstock]

Jade bravely revealed that her illness coincided with a particularly difficult time in her personal life due to problems at home, bullying and the death of a cherished family member, which resulted in her being hospitalised.

“My periods stopped and things were getting out of control but I don’t think I really cared what was happening to me. I felt so depressed at the time that I just wanted to waste away and disappear,” she writes.

“Anorexia is a self-destructive thing and you become stubborn, so when people are trying to tell you something you get it into your head that they’re against you and you’re not going to listen.”

Copyright [Penguin]

Revealing the true extent of her condition, she candidly added: “It took going to hospital to make me realise that it wasn’t a game, it was something really serious. They sat me down in the clinic and were quite tough at first, spelling it out: ‘You’re destroying your body and if you keep doing this you will die.’”

The real turning point came when she saw her friend, who was also suffering from anorexia, end up in a specialist unit in hospital, which allowed her to witness how destructive the disease could be from an objective point of view.

The DNA singer revealed: “It shocked me into making a change.”

From that point forward, Jade began to conquer her eating disorder with the help of regular therapy sessions and hospital visits, and ever since secondary school she has been in full health.

Copyright [BBC]

On Wednesday night, the star pulled out of an appearance on The One Show due to “family problems”, sparking concern among mixers (all around the world), who rushed to share their support and send well wishes via Twitter.

One wrote: “Hoping your all ok and hoping it’s nothing serious. little mix isn’t the same without you [sic]”, another added: “so sad to hear about jade had a loss, always remember no matter what we’ll be with you our minnie [sic]”.

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves! We’re sending all our love and support to Jade at this difficult time. <3

Our World is available to purchase now.