Angela Scanlon discussed her 15-year battle with eating disorders during an interview on Loose Women on Tuesday.
The Irish TV presenter, 40, said of her anorexia and bulimia: ‘It’s not necessarily one or the other. They go in cycles, it can feel very bleak sometimes.”
She added: “From my late teens or early twenties, for fifteen years, I was in a bad situation. For me, the turning point was a friend of mine who was also suffering and said that we would have the diseases forever.
‘And for her it felt like a comfort, a support in numbers. But for me, I really resisted the idea of having to stay in that small space for a long time.”
It was Angela’s first ever appearance on the show, and she later joked on Instagram that she had popped her ‘Loose Women cherry’.
TV presenter Angela Scanlon, 40, discussed her 15-year battle with eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia, during an interview on Loose Women on Tuesday
Angela pictured on Channel 4’s Big Breakfast with Ronan Keating in the late 1990s, when she predicts the onset of her illness
The star revealed: ‘From my late teens or early 20s, and for 15 years, I was in a bad place’ (pictured with panelist Denise Welch)
In 2023, Angela revealed it Weekend magazine She used to feel a bit like a swan: elegant on the surface while paddling furiously underneath.
She seemed to have it all, with a burgeoning career as one of Britain’s most in-demand broadcasters thanks to appearances on The One Show and as host of BBC2’s interiors hit Your Home Made Perfect, as well as her own chat show in Ireland and a popular podcast.
But beneath the facade, Angela was tormented by insecurity. She had an eating disorder that started in her teens, and by age 20 she was often subsisting on black coffee and canned pineapple.
Her anorexia and bulimia were later replaced by workaholism.
“I think an eating disorder is about trying to control things when everything seems out of your control,” she said.
‘It took me a lot longer to realize that I had replaced the eating disorder with work because I thought I had sorted myself out.
‘I had built a career and a life that I enjoyed. But it wasn’t until later that I realized that when I slowed down, the problems were still the same. I think anyone with an addiction will recognize that it’s easy to switch one for the other.”
The result was a sense of emptiness that Angela explores in her deeply personal, recent book Joyrider, in which she describes not only her problems but also what helped save her: tapping into her natural resources of joy and gratitude for the little positive sides of life.
It was Angela’s first ever appearance on the show, and she later joked on Instagram that she had popped her ‘Loose Women cherry’.
This is the “joyriding” part of the book, which refers to a conscious detour to a “sweeter way.”
Although she was nervous about revealing her vulnerabilities, it was a powerful experience that has helped others as well. “Writing Joyrider was liberating,” she says.
‘There was something cathartic about it. People think we can’t talk about things until we’re ready, but there’s something powerful about talking about them while you’re still in the process because healing happens all the time.”
Angela has channeled her experiences into a gratitude-focused podcast called Thanks A Million, which is now in its sixth series.
But when she became mother to Ruby, now five, Angela felt her recovery really beginning.
‘I realized something had to change. My motivation was my daughter. I didn’t want her to adopt my habits, take them as normal and copy them.’
Angela returned to work 12 weeks after having Ruby, but when she had Marnie, who is now two years old, she realized she needed more maternity leave.
With the exception of her book release in May 2022, she did not work again until she started filming the latest series Your Home Made Perfect.
“For my own mental health, I was determined to do this differently because I didn’t want to rush myself back to work,” she said.
Angela has been helping architects and families create their perfect home on BBC Two’s Your Home Made Perfect since 2019, and started the spin-off Your Garden Made Perfect in 2021.
The star’s only other television work since 2021 has been Strictly Come Dancing, in which she appeared as a contestant in 2023 (pictured with professional partner Carlos Gu)
Also in 2021, Angela started her own show on RTÉ One, Ask Me Anything.
Angela brings her unique blend of enthusiasm and affectionate comments to the show with unexpected revelations from celebrity guests as they all agree to be asked anything.
The star’s only other television work since 2021 has been Strictly Come Dancing, in which she appeared as a contestant in 2023.
Teaming up with Carlos Gu, Angela was the ninth celebrity eliminated, narrowly missing out on a spot in the finals.