Jack Whitehall opens up about eating disorder he had at beginning of TV career

Jack Whitehall has opened up for the first time about his struggles with bulimia when he found fame as a comedian. The 36-year-old funnyman revealed he developed the eating disorder at the start of his career due to the "pressure" of being on television.

He admitted that he was inspired to discuss his struggles with mental health after , 47, detailed living with bulimia in a 2020 documentary. The Fresh Meat actor told press: "I just remember thinking that was incredibly brave of him."

Former cricketer Freddie said he developed the eating disorder when he joined the England team back in 2001 after feeling the pressure to keep his weight down.

Bulimia is described by charity Beat as eating large quantities of food (called bingeing) and then trying to compensate for that overeating by vomiting, taking laxatives or diuretics, fasting, or exercising excessively (called purging).

The dad-of-one spoke about bulimia in Freddie's upcoming Disney+ documentary and told : "I was bulimic when I first started doing television, it's not something that I've ever really spoken about.

"But I remember that pressure of being on television. And it's not something that I've seen other men or people in the media talk about, until Fred came out and spoke out about it. I just remember thinking that was incredibly brave of him."

According to the charity, around 25% of the 1.25million UK sufferers of eating disorders are male. The causes of eating disorders are complex and not yet fully understood, but include a mis of genetic, biological, and cultural factors.

The charity added that eating disorders are treatable and people can do and do make full recoveries. In Freddie's documentary, Flintoff, the TV presenter also opened up about his historic Top Gear crash which left him with facial scars.

In 2022, he was airlifted to hospital after he was seriously injured filming the BBC motoring programme. At one point, the dad-of-three recalled: "After the accident, I didn't think I had it in me to get through.

"This sounds awful... part of me wishes I'd been killed. Part of me thinks, 'I wish I'd died'. I didn't want to kill myself... I wouldn't mistake the two things.

"I was not wishing, I was just thinking, 'This would have been so much easier'. Now, I try to take the attitude that the sun will come up tomorrow and my kids will still give me a hug. I'm probably in a better place now."

Flintoff will premiere exclusively on Disney+ in the UK and Ireland on Friday April 25.