‘I fell into the rabbit hole of starving myself’: The Vamps’ James McVey says he felt ‘lost for a few years’ due to his battle with anorexia
The Vamps star James McVey revealed on Dianne Buswell’s BBC podcast that his unhealthy relationship with food started before he created the band and would lead to him ‘starving himself’ on tour.
The pop star, 27, confessed he went deep down ‘the rabbit hole’ with his eating disorder at the peak of The Vamps’ success, where he was ‘lost for a few years’.
Looking back, he said he wished he was kinder to himself and addressed his eating issues at an earlier age, so he wasn’t still dealing with them now.
Anorexia: The Vamps’ James McVey revealed on Dianne Buswell’s BBC podcast that his unhealthy relationship with food started before he created the band and would lead to him ‘starving himself’
While talking about body dysmorphia on Di’s Salon, he said: ‘So I left school in that weird place, that sort of strive to put as much protein into my body as possible and lose as much fat.
‘And then I started The Vamps, which was a whirlwind from the start in the best possible way, but it consequently meant that I couldn’t really keep up this obsession with what I put into my body and the exercise I do.
‘And I think it then snowballed into me not being able to have any control over many elements of my life so therefore I fell further into the rabbit hole of starving myself and pushing my body in a variety of different ways.’
James has previously disclosed his harrowing anorexia battle, and credited his fiancée Kirstie Brittain for helping him battle the condition.
Candid: The pop star, 27, confessed he went deep down ‘the rabbit hole’ with his eating disorder at the peak of The Vamps’ success, where he was ‘lost for a few years’ (pictured in 2018)
The guitarist continued: ‘So I wouldn’t say at all that The Vamps was the reason that I had my eating problems, I definitely had them before.
‘I just think the manic nature of being in a touring band. In many ways it really could have helped me because I had such a great group of guys around me that I could have opened up to.
‘But it was that time before we were encouraged as men to vocalise our feelings, so I just got a bit lost for a few years.
‘And it’s a shame really looking back, I look at this thinking like “god, I wish you could just say to him ‘don’t beat yourself up so much'”‘.
Honest: Looking back, he said he wished he had been kinder on himself and addressed his eating issues at an earlier age, so he wasn’t still dealing with them now
Other half: James has previously disclosed his harrowing anorexia battle, and credited his fiancée Kirstie Brittain with helping him battle the condition
He added: ‘If I had spoken about my kind of insecurities at this age I wouldn’t still have eating issues now. So yeah it’s funny looking back’.
During his early days in The Vamps, James suffered with an eating disorder, previously telling The Mirror: ‘Fans always send me pictures from years ago and I’m stick thin and I didn’t realise back then just how thin I was.
‘I was ill and I looked ill. I’m happy that now I’ve come full circle and see food as positive. I don’t want to belittle other people who have anorexia but I think it’s definitely had a negative relationship with food in those early days.’
And James credited Kirsty with helping him through it, telling MailOnline previously: ‘Kirsty helped me from day one. She’s helped me more than I know’.
Hurdles: He said of managing his eating disorder in The Vamps: ‘It then snowballed into me not being able to have any control over many elements of my life so therefore I sort of fell further into the rabbit hole of starving myself’ (pictured in 2019 with Jared Leto far right)