Lisa Rinna's Daughter Amelia Gray Hamlin Reveals Former Struggle with an Eating Disorder
Amelia Gray Hamlin is opening up about a very personal battle.
The 16-year-old model and daughter of Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin revealed in a lengthy Instagram post that she is in recovery from an eating disorder. The model posted two bikini photos of herself: one from last year and one taken recently.
“I feel comfort with finally posting something that I wish I was confident enough to post long ago,” she began the caption, adding that she has received critical comments about the way her body looks now compared to a year ago. “Last year at this time there was no doubt that I was not okay. Not only physically but also mentally….Instead of people ever commenting on my mental stability, people commented on my weight. Usually, when people are struggling with an eating disorder it stems from your mind, and your body is a reflection of it.”
A post shared by Amelia (@ameliagray) on Mar 31, 2018 at 5:57pm PDT
Hamlin – who along with her sister and fellow model Delilah Belle Hamlin has appeared with their mom on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills – said she woke up “one morning” and decided to stop “sabotaging myself…my health, my physical health, my mental health and everything about myself.”
She continued: “Once I got the help that I needed, shortly after the second photo was taken, I began to try to love myself for me.”
“I am SO beyond humbled and grateful to have the platform that I do at such a young age,” Hamlin added. “And to wake up every morning with a little girl reaching out to me and telling me I am her inspiration, really makes me feel like I have a purpose. I went through this journey not for attention, not for people to pitty [sic] me, but to help. I am on this earth to help people, and I know that.”
Hamlin is doing much better now, but noted that she still suffers from “health complications” due to her eating disorder. She wrote that she was also recently diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the thyroid gland.
“One in 200 women in the US suffer from anorexia. And I want to help. The first photo, taken today is not a photo of the perfect girl. That is a photo of me, trying to figure out my body, and owing my curves that I naturally have, and not forcing myself to starve them away,” said Hamlin. “I have a lot of health complications after starving myself for so long so it’s going to be a journey that I go through for a large part of my life… not to say that recently being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s has also been an extreme challenge for me to balance when still getting over this part of my life, but I am getting there. One day at a time. I want to help.”