VIDEO – YOU CAN BE TOO THIN –
April 12, 2022 – In the carefully curated Bravo universe, thinness is considered a laudable moral success, and the Real Housewives franchise is ground zero for linking it to aspirational beauty and wealth. The women in these shows don’t shy away from talking about the work they put into their appearances, from glam squads to personal trainers and plastic surgery. But the exorbitantly high beauty standards of being a Real Housewives cast member aren’t met just by healthy eating, staying active, and the occasional surgical intervention. With The Real Housewives of New Jersey‘s Jackie Goldschneider opening up about her ongoing struggle with anorexia and entering treatment for her eating disorder, we’re seeing one of our first honest glimpses at what it can take to attain and maintain the ideals for which the show is famous. Speaking about experiences in her mid-20s, Jackie tells her castmates about how scared she became of not being skinny. “Living with anorexia was horrendous,” she explains. “At my wedding, I was so skinny that after, my father told me some of his friends asked him if I was OK.” She concludes by explaining how seeing a nutritionist helped her find a desire to heal, realizing the harmful example she was setting for her children: “I said, forget it, I’m finished.”
This season, Jackie took an incredibly important step when she admitted (and on-camera!) that her eating disorder wasn’t really behind her.
