Telling the story of what happened in my last years at the BBC has meant being honest about something I have found even harder to talk about.
After I raised a grievance about antisemitism, I was gradually isolated and denied more and more of the job I loved so much. The loneliness of that took a serious toll on my mental health. I became ill with anorexia, a recurrence of an illness I had when I was younger, but this time it came back with a vengeance. Each time I thought I was taking a step or two forward, something would happen at work that knocked me back.
I was ashamed, and at times I am not sure I was believed. I kept trying to explain that I was struggling. More than once I was told I wasn’t the only one. I felt like colleagues thought I was making it up.
Since February last year I have been admitted to hospital four times. The most recent admission, and I hope the last, was for three months over the summer. The NHS staff on that ward saved me.
I’m sharing this because if I was going to tell my story honestly, I had to tell all of it. Shame keeps people silent. Anorexia is an illness, not a choice and not a weakness, and no one who is this unwell should have to prove it.
Swipe for some of what I was told along the way.
@HadleyFreeman has also struggled with anorexia, and in her brilliant piece in The Sunday Times she writes about our shared experience. Thank you, Hadley.
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thetimes.com/article/ad6378d…
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