The ‘Dancing with the Stars’ alum credits her ADHD and desire to start a family with helping through her journey
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NEED TO KNOW
- Hilaria Baldwin revealed she lived with eating disorders for 20 years and started dieting at 5 years old
- She credits her ADHD and desire to start a family with helping her overcome disordered eating habits
- Baldwin says she now focuses on teaching her seven children about balance and having a healthy relationship with food
Hilaria Baldwin shared her decades-long journey with eating disorders, revealing that she began dieting at age 5 and feared the hidden calories in toothpaste.
“I did anorexia, I did bulimia, I did overeating, I did undereating, did all of it,” Baldwin, 42, told Page Six Radio, sharing that she lived with eating disorders for 20 years.
“I started dieting when I was 5,” the Dancing with the Stars alum said. “I looked back, and I was like, ‘I looked fine.’ But,” she said, “I thought I was like a whale.”
“There was something broken inside of me,” Baldwin explains.
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Baldwin went on to explain how having ADHD affected her eating disorder. “We get very hyperfocused on certain things — it can be bad too —but one of the good things that it did is it made me hyperfocused on trying. Like, I need to solve this. I don’t want to live this way. I’m miserable. I can’t have good relationships. I can’t have good friendships. I can’t go out to dinner with people. It’s just like so, so, so stressful.”
“I’m afraid of how many calories might be in toothpaste,” she said, calling it “Insanity.”
Baldwin also shared how her desire to start a family played a role in her journey. “I wanted to make sure that I healed that before I had kids, because I didn’t want to pass on my habits,” said Baldwin, who shares seven children — Carmen, 12, Rafael, 11, Leonardo, 9, Romeo, 8, Eduardo, 5, María, 5, and Ilaria, 3 — with husband Alec Baldwin. She also has a stepdaughter, Ireland Baldwin, 30, whom her husband shares with ex Kim Basinger.
According to Baldwin, she has since learned “not being afraid of things” and “eating an amount that feels like your body can manage it.”
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Baldwin shared she tries to “empower” her kids in the way they approach food, saying they “talk about strength. Talk about, how does the food make you feel?”
While she admitted, “I don’t love that my kids eat Cheetos sometimes,” she said, “We don’t shame it.”
“It’s not a regular thing. It’s like a balance thing,” she said. “Feed yourself with mostly good things. Open up a pint of ice cream sometimes and take out a spoon, but be aware of your body.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, The Alliance for Eating Disorders provides a fully-staffed helpline at 1-866-662-1235, as well as free, therapist-led support groups.
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