Taylor Swift Opens Up About Eating Disorder in Netflix Doc

In an interview with Variety, the artist further discussed her documentary “Miss Americana,” which premiered at Sundance on Thursday.

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Taylor Swift went on the record about struggling with an eating disorder in the Netflix documentary “Miss Americana,” which premiered Thursday at the Sundance Film Festival.

The historically private artist elaborated on a voice-over segment in the documentary in which she discusses “under-eating” and the impossible pressures of societal body standards in a cover story for Variety, the magazine reported. Swift also nodded to the actor Jameela Jamil, who has started many campaigns and conversations on body image, as an inspiration for her candor.

Variety reports that Swift’s documentary addresses fame and media coverage, which fueled her struggles with body image and an eating disorder. She said seeing images of herself motivated her to “to just starve a little bit — just stop eating.”

Swift told Variety that she was initially hesitant about including her “relationship with food” in the documentary, which reportedly features then-and-now images of her “1989” versus “Reputation” tours. But she said that she felt more comfortable because of the film’s director Lana Wilson.

“That’s one of my favorite sequences of the film,” Wilson told Variety. “I was surprised, of course. But I love how she’s kind of thinking out loud about it. And every woman will see themselves in that sequence. I just have no doubt.”

The Netflix debut of “Miss Americana” on January 31 will follow a landmark year for Swift’s career. The 30-year-old singer was recognized as Artist of the Decade at the American Music Awards, made some of her first-ever public comments about politics, and continued a messy fight with her former label BigMachine, which she accused of blocking her from playing her top songs.