Stephanie Waring reveals she was fighting for her life as a teenager after suffering from an eating disorder.
The 41-year-old soap star, known for playing Cindy Cunningham in Hollyoaks, has opened up about her battle with anorexia at the age of 14.
The actress admitted her weight dropped to just 4st 7lb during her teenage years while she suffered from an eating disorder.
The 2019 Dancing on Ice contestant honestly opened up to New! Magazine revealing doctors said she would die if she did not seek medical help, and she was admitted to hospital for four months.
Stephanie said: ‘It was bad, really bad. I weighed 4st 7lb. The doctors basically said, "If you don't go to hospital, you may as well get hit by a bus because you're going to die."'
Speaking about when her eating disorder started, she said: ‘'I was basically a fat kid and I wanted to look good in hotpants. I went on a diet but the diet never ended. '
The soap star revealed at one point she was exercising three times a day and eating nothing.
Though at a healthy weight of 7st 6lb at 5ft2 now, Stephanie explained the condition will ‘never leave her’ but she now feels she has more control over her body and a more positive relationship towards eating and her body image.
She said: ‘I don't think it ever leaves you especially because I was so young. I'm 41 now but it's something so ingrained in you psychologically so it's always there in the back of your mind.'
Stephanie has recently embarked on a health kick, revealing to her 186k Instagram followers in a recent post that she is trying to build muscle.
Alongside a photo of her working out in the gym, she said: ‘I think my pancake is getting bigger! Glute and hamstring focus today at @davidlloydmanchester working hard trying to build lean muscle something I have never been able to do, been skinny fat for so long and never using the right approach to achieve my goals, but finally with the right diet and the correct training and researching everything, I'm on the right track! I don't have a personal trainer so kinda proud of myself for doing this by myself for myself! #weightlifting #resistance #gym #fitness.’
Stephanie has always been very open about her mental health.
Previously, she revealed she suffered from postnatal depression following the birth of her youngest child, Mia.
She said: ‘I had very bad anxiety, I thought there was something wrong with Lexi, she wasn’t feeding properly and I was scared.
'I went straight to my doctors and I was in hospital as well. They put me on medication and I also had a lady come visit me every week.'
She added: ‘My advice to anybody would just be to get the help. It’s a mental illness, you can’t just get better from that on your own'
Stephanie is mum to two children, eight-year-old Lexi Grace and 13-year-old Mia.
