Katharine McPhee feared an eating disorder relapse while pregnant
American singer and actress Katharine McPhee has opened up about her fears of relapsing back into her eating disorder while pregnant.
Katharine welcomed the birth of her first child with husband David Foster just last week. A rep for the couple confirmed the joyous news, saying, “Katharine McPhee and David Foster have welcomed a healthy baby boy. Mom, Dad and son are all doing wonderfully.”
However, it has since been revealed that Katharine’s pregnancy was far from easy. While speaking on Dr. Berlin’s Informed Pregnancy Podcast, the 36-year-old mum confessed that her biggest challenge during pregnancy was “body-issue stuff”.
“It just suddenly came up in a way that hadn’t been present in a long time,” Katharine explained on the latest episode of the podcast.
“I have felt really stable in my life in the last four or five years, and my weight has been sort of like more consistent.”
“But feeling like there was a relapse after getting pregnant was really shocking and upsetting and concerning for me, because I was suddenly so obsessed with food, starting from this first trimester, and I had such a distortion of the way that I looked.” the former American Idol contestant confessed.
“I look back at these pictures and my husband was documenting like every day, because I’d be like, ‘Take a picture of me now. Am I showing?’ And I look back and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, why was I so hard on myself?’”
Katharine explained that she had gained a total of 40 pounds while pregnant, which is a relatively normal amount of weight gain for pregnant women.
Seeking help, Katharine returned to her psychiatrist, who reassured her, “that it’s really common for women who have struggled with eating disorders in the past to have almost a relapse, in some sense, when they enter pregnancy.”
“It made me feel so much better that I wasn’t alone in that headspace… by just meeting with him and him talking me through it,” Katharine said, before explaining that her body-issues “got a lot better in the second trimester,” while she was “very obsessed with food” in the first trimester.
“But yeah, that was probably and has been the hardest part of pregnancy for me, was just feeling like I was relaxing in some capacity with my food issues,” she added.
If you are struggling with an eating disorder, then you can reach out to bodywhys, or phone their helpline on (01) 2107906. If you’re in the UK, then you can contact Beat Eating Disorders, or call their helpline on 0808 801 0677.
