Pop singer Lily Allen can’t seem to keep her clothes on, or if she wears them at all they are less than skimpy. But when she looks in the mirror, she hates what she sees. According to the singer, she suffers from a rare disorder that’s tied to anorexia, bulimia and excessive plastic surgery.
Allen claims she has body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD. when she looks in the mirror, Allen says she sees “someone who is more overweight than they actually are.”
The affliction involves an unusual preoccupation with imagined defects, of minor, with a person’s body. It’s considered a serious illness and usually focuses on the skin, hair, and nose. A person with BDD tends to have cosmetic surgery, and even if the surgeries are successful, does not think they are and is unhappy with the outcomes. Sound like somebody?
Some medical experts believe that the late pop singer Michael Jackson suffered from an acute case of the affliction, leading to his multiple plastic surgeries. Short of plastic surgery it can manifest itself in other ways.
They involve spending a lot of time focusing on your body, frequently picking at skin, excessively checking appearance in a mirror, hiding the imperfection, comparing appearance with others, excessively grooming, seeking reassurance from others about how they look, and getting cosmetic surgery.
In short it adds a lot of stress and anxiety to a person’s life. Lily is a case in point.
“I was sitting in bed last night and I caught sight of myself in the mirror,” she said. “I said, ‘God, that’s a funny looking thing.’ My boyfriend said, ‘You are, but in a very sweet and beautiful way.’ That was smooth of him.”
Apparently Allen’s condition is real. As far back as 2007 she was self-loathing rant over her looks:
“I used to pride myself on being strong minded and not being some stupid girl obsessed with the way I look. I felt like it didnt matter if I was a bit chubby cause, im not a model, I’m a singer,” she wrote on her blog.
“I’m afraid I am not strong and have fallen victim to the evil machine. I write to you in a sea of tears from my hotel bed in Seattle. I have spent the past hour researching gastric bypass surgery and laser liposuction,” she added.
Treatment can involve the use of Serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs, which are antidepressants that decrease the obsessive and compulsive behavior, or cognitive behavioral therapy, according to medical Web sources.
Allen says she has used hypnotherapy to help lose weight.
