Jeff Stelling opens up on daughter's 'heartbreaking' anorexia battle as Sky Sports TV presenter slams government for lack of funding for the condition: 'A national disgrace'
- Jeff Stelling has previously opened up on his daughter's battle with anorexia
- The legendary TV presenter has campaigned for more support for the condition
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Legendary TV presenter Jeff Stelling has heartbreakingly opened up on his daughter's battle with anorexia.
Stelling, 69, has been widely praised for his work in raising awareness of eating disorders and campaigning for more support for the mental health condition over recent years.
Back in 2023, Stelling spoke out on Soccer Saturday, hitting out at the government's 'lack of awareness and funding' on the issue, labelling it as a 'national disgrace'.
He then spoke about the topic further in an interview with The Athletic, where Stelling opened up on how 'a friend' was struggling with an eating disorder.
'Years and years ago, I thought, "How can that be an illness?",' he told the outlet. 'I was one of these ill-informed people that felt it was just all about vanity and it wasn't a mental health issue. But, obviously, it's a massive mental health issue.
'And there is something inside them telling them that's where they need to be. That putting on weight is a fate worse than death. And I mean that quite literally.
Jeff Stelling has heartbreakingly opened up on his daughter's battle with anorexia
Stelling previously gained widespread plaudits for talking about the condition on TV in 2023
Stelling said he was devastated by his daughter Olivia's condition and called for more support
'And I can relate to this because my friends did it as well. He said that, with his daughter, they would sit outside of her bedroom at night with their ears to the door to try and tell that she was still alive. Wondering if she'd be alive in the morning.'
And now, according to The Sun, Stelling has given further details on what he and his daughter, Olivia, have gone through.
The 69-year-old previously said how a 'friend' was the individual struggling, but he spoke last year that Olivia was now happy to for him to reveal that the 'friend' was in fact her.
The outlet reported how the 21-year-old spent months in hospital as she battled the mental health condition and Stelling explained how she became 'skeletal' in her figure.
When visiting and supporting his daughter, Stelling went onto explain how he was left 'heartbroken' by seeing other girls left in wheelchairs with no energy to walk.
The TV host also explained how Olivia's condition is improving and that she is now doing well as a student, although he highlighted the continued battle that sufferers face.
The latest comments in The Sun come after Stelling, who has also raised awareness of the issue in Parliament, heartbreakingly opened up to Times Radio in November.
'I still get people saying to me, "give them a good meal" and I feel like punching the people who say that because I know the impact that an eating disorder can have on the individual involved and the family involved,' he said.
Stelling's latest comments come after he heartbreakingly opened up to Times Radio last year
Stelling has raised awareness of eating disorders and campaigned for more support
'It's something I feel incredibly strongly about. My daughter was... is suffering from an eating disorder and to paint the broad picture of it, she was 34kg, she had a BMI of 13.5 and she was dying.
'If you said to her unless you eat, you will die, she’d (say) that’s fine I’d rather die than eat. I'd rather die than be fat.
'And she would see on the internet, horrific pictures of other girls who had eating disorders. Their BMI was 13.5 and their target was to get to 12.5 but the task of finding help was amazingly difficult. I mean amazingly difficult.
'We found doctors didn't really know how to cope. Hospitals certainly didn't. When we got to the stage where we simply had to find a hospital for us because our local GP had basically said her organs can fail at any time now, we were turned away by a lot of famous establishments.'
Stelling continued: 'They said her BMI was 13.5, we can't take anyone with a BMI that low. Eventually we went to a private hospital, The Nightingale in London, who would accept her.
'And we were fortunate, because the Chief Psychiatrist said "these are the costs, we don't want you to remortgage the house". Well of course we would have remortgaged the house if need be.
'But the costs were phenomenal and I was fortunate because I've had a really well-paid job over the years. Without that I don't know what people do.
'The alternative was that she would be sectioned and taken God knows where.'
