Tom Grennan says therapy helps with his body dysmorphia

Yahoo

2 days ago

Singer Tom Grennan has said having therapy has helped him with issues around body dysmorphia, calling himself his "own biggest critic".
Speaking on You About? - the performer's BBC podcast with his best friend, broadcaster Roman Kemp - Grennan spoke about how it affected him.
"I definitely have body dysmorphia," he said. "I'm always constantly thinking I am bigger than I am. Or I'm always pinching my belly. It's not a healthy mindset at all, and I fully admit that."
Eating patterns and gym training habits, he noted, can have a big impact on his mental health. "Sometimes I wouldn't be training for the purpose of staying fit," he added.
"I'd have a binge with eating and then I'd be like, 'I need to go and train now to make sure these calories or this food isn't put on to me - which is an unhealthy way of being."
Feelings of guilt often follow eating binges, he admitted. For example, when one biscuit turns into half a packet, he said, he can be left thinking: "I'm gonna be fat. I'm gonna be so unfit."
With reference to how he viewed himself and his own body, the Little Bit of Love singer continued: "I'm at home in the mirror going to my missus, 'I'm fat' and she's like, 'are you alright? You're not'."
He said he had been "scared of going back" to an unhealthy lifestyle. "I always think I need to stay at this point."
The singer from Bedford has previously spoken on the same podcast about how being physically attacked on a night out when he was younger changed his life and sent him "spiralling".
In the latest episode, the 30-year-old revealed he was in "a good place with it" right now, regarding his body dysmporhia, after having had therapy which he finds helps to "actually love yourself more".
What is body dysmorphia?
According to the NHS website, body dysmorphia - or body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) - is "a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance. These flaws are often unnoticeable to others."
It affects both men and women of all ages but is most common in teenagers and young adults.
"Having BDD does not mean you're vain or self-obsessed," it continues. "It can be very upsetting and have a big impact on your life."
Symptoms can include worrying a lot about a specific area of your body and spending a lot of time comparing your looks with other people's, as well as either looking at yourself in the mirror a lot or avoiding mirrors entirely.
People with body dysmorphia also go to a lot of effort to conceal flaws with clothes and make-up, or pick at their skin.
TV and radio presenter Kemp shared some of his own experiences with Grennan on the pressures of body image and around weight in show business.
"I can't look at a picture of myself if it's on the day because it will upset me for the rest of the day," the One Show host noted.
"I'll be judging everything, and it won't be about what I'm actually doing, it'll be about how I look. And I don't want to live like that."
The former model recalled witnessing one extreme example of such pressures for one young woman at a fashion show in Milan. "We were doing the rehearsal, and she fainted on stage," he remembered.
"We tried to give her food, because she needs to eat, but [she was] straight up refusing," he added. "I saw that on a regular basis."
Kemp also recounted how someone in a pub recently told him he looked "a lot fatter on telly".
He said: "I fluctuate a lot, but that's just because sometimes you'll be working more, like anyone."
On Tuesday, Grennan went on to tell BBC Breakfast how he had channelled some hard life lessons, heartbreak and advice from his mum too into his new album, Everywhere I Went, Led Me to Where I Didn't Want to Be.
"I was lost and I was young and I was stupid sometimes, and my mum could see something wasn't right," said the singer, who has two previous number one albums to his name.
"And a lot of people could see, but I was very much [like], 'no I need to be going full at it and doing everything I can to become a big star' or whatever."
He added: "But actually none of that matters. Peace of mind is my mantra at the moment.
"When you've got peace of mind everything falls into place and you can see your way out of anything."
If you are affected by this article you can access support and information at BBC Action Line.
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