My miracle twins at 50 against the odds
Kate Moss was my ideal figure, but I’d eat some mints and think I was fatter again NEW MUM CHRISTINE RECALLING HER TWO-DECADE STRUGGLE WITH ANOREXIA
words. They’re just beautiful, after all I’ve been through I can say my life is now complete.” Christine and the babies will be living with her parents David, 82, and Val, 77, while she looks for her own place.
HAUNTED
Her happiness now is a huge contrast to years gone by. Problems with anorexia began when she was 14. A fellow actor in a theatre group made an off-hand comment, asking: “You’re the fattest in your family aren’t you?”
Christine was 5ft 6in, size 12 and a healthy eight-and-a-half stone, but the comment haunted her for years as she thought she was fat.
She recalls: “The remark was devastating for me. When I looked in the mirror I didn’t like what I saw. I was a normal girl, but I saw a chubby one.” Christine began compulsively dieting and making excuses to skip meals.
She survived on apples, milk, Diet Coke and Trebor mints. For 16 years she didn’t have periods.
Christine knew she was too thin but still tried to lose weight. She says: “Mum and Dad did all they could to help, they took me to the doctors, to counselling, but I stuck to my diet.
“Kate Moss was my ideal figure, but I knew I was thinner than her. But all I did was eat a couple more mints. Then the next day I’d think my stomach was sticking out again.”
After leaving college she worked in an office but continued to struggle. By 24 her weight was around four stone, her hair had thinned, she had hollow features and a skeletal frame. She wore trousers aged 11-12 and size zero tops.
Her health improved after she met someone and tied the knot aged 29, with her weight rising to seven stone.
Sadly, the marriage lasted just 10 months and more problems followed.
Her weight plunged to under five stone and she was so weak when her parents took her to hospital that doctors discussed force feeding.
“I think this was when I was at my lowest. I was killing myself,” she says. That’s when a family friend intervened and became her rock. Christine, eternally grateful, says: “She taught me that the only person who could help me was me.
“She helped me get my life back. I looked at old photos and realised how thin I looked. How ill I looked.
“I’d say I struggled with anorexia from the age of 14 to 34.
“My friend helped me get well. It
took a long time, but she was there. I started eating, putting on weight. It wasn’t until I was 39 that I’d say I was fully over it.
“I have her to thank for that.” When she became pregnant Christine was a healthy eight stone. She had also started acting again and spent several months travelling in Australia in her mid-40s.
Now life is as rosy as ever. She says: “I could never thank my friend enough. I’ve been given a second chance. Now I have my girls I can look forward to a wonderful future.”