Sarah Ferguson on receiving therapy for more than two decades – ‘I was a binge eater’

Sarah Ferguson is 'hard not to love' says royal expert

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Prince Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, known as Fergie, revealed in an interview that she “still” has mental health issues that she works on “literally every day”. Hurtful headlines about her weight, alongside childhood trauma, was one of the reasons she sought therapy in the first place. The public figure has also spoken openly about her binge eating disorder.

“I did have and still have mental health issues, which I work at literally every day, I really do,” she told Hello! Magazine.

“And I have been in therapy for 24 years.

“Sometimes I talk to my therapist on a weekly basis, and then sometimes, when it gets really tough, I jump in and get a quick hit of trying to understand the negativity of the demons of my mind.”

Ferguson, who married Prince Andrew in 1985 until their separation in 1992, developed a binge eating disorder at the age of 12, which was worsened by the publicity she received. She has told the Guardian she was devastated when tabloids named her “Duchess of Pork”.

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In a podcast appearance, she even suggested that she “wished” she could have bulimia instead of Binge Eating.

“I was a binge-eater,” she said.

“I could never get bulimia because I just didn’t have that mental state to go that far, but I always wished I could.

“That just shows you how dangerous and what place I got to. To wish you could have a mental illness to that level is a very serious place to get to.

“My body and mind was in that place, but I couldn’t actually act out to make myself sick. I then grew and grew and grew.”

Binge eating disorder is when people regularly eat lots of food within a short amount of time until they’re full.

These eating sessions are done alone and people who binge eat may feel guilty after binge eating.

Ferguson used to compare herself with Princess Diana, who she described as “beautiful and thin”.

The Duchess had to cope with the difficulties posed by her mother leaving her family to marry professional Argentinian polo player Héctor Barrantes, before being tragically killed in a car accident in 1998.

According to the NHS, men and women can develop binge eating problems at any age, but they are more typical among late teens and people in their early twenties.

The symptoms include eating when you’re not hungry, eating very fast during a binge, and eating alone and secretly.

If you are receiving therapy for the condition with the NHS, it is likely to be cognitive behavioural therapy.

However, according to the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence: “Your body weight is unlikely to change during your therapy because it is not designed to help you gain or lose weight.”

CBT is designed to improve your relationship with food, embedding positive beliefs about self-worth and reducing the amount of overthinking about weight and body shape.

There are approximately over 1.3 million people with binge eating disorder in the UK, suggests the NICE.

Binge eating disorder brings with it several health risks, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar – all of which bump up the risk of having a heart attack.

If you are concerned about your own binge eating or think somebody you know may have the condition, do not hesitate to visit your GP.

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