Heavy/Getty/NBCUniversal A "Real Housewives" star opened up about her health struggles.
A “Real Housewives” star is opening up about the health struggles that she’s dealt with over the course of her life.
Jackie Goldschneider from the New Jersey franchise has been open about her eating disorder, and is diving a bit deeper in her new book, “The Weight of Beautiful.” She also opened up in a candid interview with Entertainment Tonight.
“I started cutting things out and got so carried away. Anorexia can creep up on you, and suddenly, you wake up one day, scared of food and scared to eat,” Goldschneider told ET.
Things got so serious for the reality television star that she admits that her life was at risk. In her interview, she recalled having a severely lowered heart rate and blood pressure.
“I could have had a heart attack at any point,” she admitted.
Goldschneider joined the cast of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” as a full-time cast member on season 9. In season 13, she was demoted to a “friend of” role.
Here’s what you need to know:
Jackie Goldschneider Says She’d Never Take Ozempic
In a guest post for Newsweek, Goldschneider wrote about Ozempic — the weight loss drug that many celebs have been using.
“From where I sit, the only major difference between anorexia and using Ozempic is hunger,” she shared.
“Hunger was my biggest enemy for the two decades I spent trying to outrun it. I did anything I could to shut it off, ignoring the lightheadedness, eating plain lettuce and fiber crackers to trick my body into fullness, and taking walks at mealtimes instead of sitting down to eat. Starving was hard because it hurt,” she continued.
“But starving on Ozempic doesn’t hurt because your brain doesn’t care; it doesn’t send the message that you’re hungry. Your body no longer wants food. Ozempic lets you be anorexic with none of the physical or emotional pain,” she added.
Goldschneider said that she’d never use the weight loss drug. “I will never again sacrifice my health to be thin,” she wrote.
Jackie Goldschneider Still Works to Ensure She Keeping Herself Healthy
In an interview with New Beauty, Goldschneider said that she still has to stay on top of her health, even when her eating disorder is in check.
“I think a big misconception is that getting rid of an eating disorder means that it’s like a free-for-all and that you’re intuitively eating and that you’re not looking at anything anymore. That’s not the case for me. I would say I’m about 75-percent recovered. I’m still in therapy and with a dietician once a week,” she told the outlet.
Goldschneider says that she wanted to write her new book because she wanted to share her experience with others — either for people who have suffered the same struggles that she has or so that people can understand the severity of eating disorders.
“I wrote this book so people can truly understand how terrifying and insidious an eating disorder can be, how quickly you can spiral into diet culture and how shameful it can feel to live with so many secrets,” she captioned an Instagram post on February 15, 2023.
Goldschneider’s new book will be released on September 26, 2023.
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