Gary Barlow opens up about his eating disorder for new Be Well Collective campaign

Barlow is an ambassador for the non-profit organisation, which helps provide nutritional and mental health support in the fashion world 
Lucy Pavia20 January 2020

Gary Barlow has opened up on his struggles with an eating disorder after leaving Take That .

Barlow, 48, discussed how his “massive weight gain” after the band split in 1996 took a toll on his mental and physical health.

“The first signs that something was wrong for me was the massive weight gain in a very short period of time” he said.

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Gary was speaking in a new ‘Live Well Be Well’ video series for the Be Well Collective, a non-profit which works to bring nutritional and mental health coaching to the fashion world.

“It’s something you carry around with you, literally carry around with you everywhere, and I can see how people fall down in that pit and can’t get out. I lied to myself for so long, but by the end of course I believed [the lies]” he said.

“I wasn’t a good talker” he added, “a lot of guys in the band were good at communication - I wasn’t. So when I came out the bubble about eight, nine years later it all hit me within about 3 months. I used to blame [the weight gain] on the fact that I didn’t have work, I wasn’t signed, I didn’t really know what I was doing. But I think a lot of it was this pressure that had built up that had never been addressed.”

Barlow gained five stone following the band’s split in 1996. He previously discussed his battle with bulimia in his biography A Better Me, saying at the height of his illness he was able to make himself sick in 30 seconds.

He later found help from a nutritionist and lost the weight.

Gary Barlow is an ambassador for the Be Well Collective, find out more at bewellcollective.co.uk

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