Steph Claire Smith has discussed her ‘nightmare’ battle with disordered eating and revealed she was cruelly told she needed to be ‘smaller’ to be a model.
The fitness influencer, 29, has previously opened up about her past struggles with a crippling eating disorder, and has now detailed how she fell victim to ‘toxic diets’.
She told how she started to struggle with ‘tortuous’ disordered eating in her early 20s after moving to New York to be an international model.
Steph candidly said she was shockingly told she needed to be ‘smaller’ to book modelling jobs and became influenced by a string of ‘toxic’ fad diets.
She wrote in Marie Claire Australia: ‘I was told that in order to book jobs, I needed to become smaller, my social media feed was flooded with fad diets, transformation images and celebrity body shaming.
![Steph Claire Smith Opens Up About Battle with Disordered Eating and Pressure to Be Smaller 2 Steph Claire Smith has discussed her 'nightmare' battle with disordered eating and revealed she was cruelly told she needed to be 'smaller' to be a model](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/31/13/85556773-13480365-Steph_Claire_Smith_has_discussed_her_nightmare_battle_with_disor-m-39_1717159643716.jpg)
Steph Claire Smith has discussed her ‘nightmare’ battle with disordered eating and revealed she was cruelly told she needed to be ‘smaller’ to be a model
‘It was such a toxic space, I tried countless fad diets, falling into a vicious cycle of restricting, binging and purging, it was a literal nightmare, thankfully one that I’m no longer living.’
Steph went on to criticise ‘unrealistic’ body standards in the modelling industry at the time as well as the rise of fad diets and body shaming on social media.
She said she wants to help others avoid ‘toxic’ fad diets through her fitness and nutrition app Kic, which she co-founded with Laura Henshaw.
‘I know how consuming and tortuous disordered eating is, I’ve fallen victim to diet culture,’ she added.
She warned her fans that quick-fixes and fad diets are currently seeing a resurgence through the ‘wellness’ trend, which she said makes her ‘furious’.
![Steph Claire Smith Opens Up About Battle with Disordered Eating and Pressure to Be Smaller 4 She told how she started to struggle with 'tortuous' disordered eating in her early 20s after moving to New York to be an international model (pictured left as a 19-year-old)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/31/13/82489533-13480365-The_influencer_29_told_host_Sarah_Grynberg_she_used_to_scream_at-a-29_1717159509496.jpg)
She told how she started to struggle with ‘tortuous’ disordered eating in her early 20s after moving to New York to be an international model (pictured left as a 19-year-old)
![Steph Claire Smith Opens Up About Battle with Disordered Eating and Pressure to Be Smaller 6 Steph slammed unrealistic body standards and said she wants to help others avoid 'toxic' fad diets through her fitness and nutrition app Kic](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/31/13/85556823-13480365-image-a-41_1717159851421.jpg)
Steph slammed unrealistic body standards and said she wants to help others avoid ‘toxic’ fad diets through her fitness and nutrition app Kic
Steph gave others advice for spotting fad diets and urged people to make sure the people they are getting advice from are qualified health professionals.
She also shared that her number one rule is sustainability as she advised people not to follow any diet or trend that they can’t uphold for a longer period of time.
It is not the first time Steph has spoken about her struggles with an eating disorder as she recently broke down in tears discussing her unhealthy relationship with food.
In March, she became very emotional as she recalled how she would scream at her mother for using olive oil in her cooking at the height of her eating disorder.
‘For a period of time, I would be angry at mum for using certain ingredients like olive oil and stuff,’ an emotional Steph admitted on her A Life Of Greatness podcast.
![Steph Claire Smith Opens Up About Battle with Disordered Eating and Pressure to Be Smaller 8 It is not the first time Steph has spoken about her struggles with an eating disorder as she recently broke down in tears discussing her unhealthy relationship with food](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/31/13/85557357-13480365-image-a-40_1717159849370.jpg)
It is not the first time Steph has spoken about her struggles with an eating disorder as she recently broke down in tears discussing her unhealthy relationship with food
‘I remember even years after I learnt what I was doing was wrong, I would go over for dinner and the things mum would offer me or suggest would be the changes I had made her do at home and I was like “Oh you don’t have to do that anymore”.’
She admitted that a lot of her classmates at school had bad relationships with their bodies because they grew up in an era where their mothers were following fad diets.
‘A lot of my friends from school grew up with their mums on every fad diet under the sun, picking apart their bodies quite openly and that was their norm,’ she explained.
‘I was lucky enough that at least in my home space, that wasn’t the case. And I want to be that way as a mum now.’
If you have been affected by this story, call the Butterfly National Helpline on 1800 33 4673 or visit their website.