Former Citizen TV presenter Joey Muthengi has for the first time opened up on how she starved herself, just to fit into clothes she was given to wear for her show.
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The job had stressed me to the point of losing myself – Joey Muthengi on starving herself to look good for TV
I remember walking into my mom’s kitchen with sweatpants falling off of my waist-Joey Muthengi
The job had stressed me to the point of losing myself – Joey Muthengi on starving herself to look good for TV
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In a series of tweets, Ms Muthengi said that when she landed the TV job, she stopped eating because she was under immense pressure to maintain her image, and she thought she was fine.
“I got it under control for a few years after then somehow I landed on TV. Then I stopped eating at all. I looked great in those dresses they gave me but underneath I was suffering. I felt so much pressure to maintain this image that I just stopped eating. Girls in the hallway would ask me..."My God Joey how do you stay so thin?" And I would just laugh and keep it moving. I honestly thought I was fine. And that's the thing with eating disorders. You don’t see it yourself. But others do,” she wrote.
The job had stressed me to the point of losing myself – Joey Muthengi on starving herself to look good for TV
Pulse Live Kenya
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Joey who currently works as a radio host with Capital FM mentioned that she went to Caucasian schools where being thin was a ‘thing’ and she grew up keeping herself a skinny Becky.
“In High School I would eat all the food and throw up in the bathroom later. What they don't tell you about bulimia is that you end up consuming more cals that way. Fast forward to College and it's the same story. Eating, barfing and pretending nothing was wrong. All the girls were doing it,” stated Joey Muthengi.
She pointed out that the TV job had stressed her so much, and when one of her friends sent her a picture of how she looked before the TV job, she couldn't recognize herself and decided to quit, to focus on her health.
The job had stressed me to the point of losing myself – Joey Muthengi on starving herself to look good for TV
Pulse Live Kenya
Ms Muthengi who had shared pictures of herself with the tweets said she has been fighting Bulimia for about 20 years and is proud of the far she has come.
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(Bulimia-is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging)
“The job had stressed me to the point of me losing myself. Someone had sent me this pic of what I looked like before and that’s when I decided to put my health first. So anyway, someone might look great on the outside but feel awful inside. I was in so much pain when this pic was taken. It's been 2 decades for me. I'm still fighting this demon that is rarely spoken about in African culture. But I'm fighting every day”
“So this is me now. And I am damn proud of myself for making it here and even more proud of myself for appreciating how God made me,” said Joey Muthengi.
Read Also: Joey Muthengi comes clean on moving to Italy
The job had stressed me to the point of losing myself – Joey Muthengi on starving herself to look good for TV
Pulse Live Kenya
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