Tom Daley has peeled back the curtain of his past body image struggles and eating disorder.
TW: eating disorders. Please be advised that the following content may be triggering for individuals who have or are currently struggling with eating disorders.
In 2021, the Olympic gold medalist first opened up about the topic in his memoir, Coming Up For Air, revealing that he developed body dysmorphia and bulimia in the lead up to the 2012 London Olympics.
In a recent interview with Radio Times, Daley offered further insight into that “dark time,” revealing that he faced pressure on both personal and professional fronts.
“It was a home Olympics Games. When was I ever going to get a chance to dive in front of a home crowd again, with all my friends and family there? I was also aware that the funding of British diving was sitting on my shoulders because if we didn’t win a medal, funding for diving was going to be cut,” he explained.
“So it was huge pressure, and I struggled with all kinds of things in the build-up to that – eating disorder and anxiety issues.”
In addition to the aforementioned pressures, Daley said that being told he was “overweight” was a factor in his body image challenges, resulting in him “cutting out food.”
“I used to get so hungry that I’d binge. Then when I binged, I’d feel so bad that I was bulmic for a while,” he explained.
Towards the end of his interview, Daley admitted to the publication that he still struggles with body dysmorphia. However, he cited his husband Dustin Lance Black as a “huge support” for him, something he didn’t have in 2011 and 2012.
“I think it’s a big thing in the gay world. Some people have very unrealistic body expectations,” the former diver added.
For decades, body image has played a massive role in the LGBTQIA+ community, especially among gay, bisexual and queer men.
From media to online dating profiles, specific body types have been elevated over others, often perpetuated as the gold standard and something every queer man should work towards.
This has resulted in real-life consequences, with many gay and queer men feeling the pressure to achieve these archetypes no matter the cost.
In a research article from 2022, German academics found that gay men exhibited greater body image issues than their straight counterparts, in particular, “a greater discrepancy between self-rated current and ideal body fat” and “higher drive for thinness”.
For more information about the impact eating disorders and body dysmorphia have had on the queer community, click here.