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the singer — whose full name is melanie chisholm — is talking candidly about her past in the lead-up to the release of her new memoir, out in late september. in her book the sporty one: my life as a spice girl, chisholm writes about being diagnosed with anxiety, depression, agoraphobia, anorexia and a binge-eating disorder.
it never got so bad that she had to be hospitalized, she said. but her periods stopped, a common sign that the body isn’t getting enough calories.
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later, she found out that murphy had said something similar to her bandmate, victoria beckham (posh), urging her to lose weight as well. beckham wrote about her own experience with anorexia in her 2001 memoir leaning to fly. and in 2016, another spice girl — geri halliwell (ginger spice) — told oprah that bulimia was her “coping mechanism ” while dealing with the scrutiny of the spotlight.
it’s common for people to transition from anorexia to binge eating. according to a 2021 study , nearly 42 per cent of people with anorexia later develop binge-and-purge behaviours.
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“ mental health professionals should be aware of the frequent onset of [binging and purging behaviours] in [restrictive-type anorexia nervosa] and its risk factors and take this information into account” in treating people with anorexia, the study concluded.
reflecting on that time now, she says it’s astonishing how much pressure was placed on the group, starting when they were in their late teens and early 20s — ages where many people are vulnerable to the onset of mental illness.
