Michelle Duggar has opened up about living with an eating disorder.
Though she kept her struggles with bulimia private as a teenager, the "19 Kids and Counting" star hopes that she can help others by bringing her past suffering into the light.
"Before I came to know the Lord, I had been struggling in my self-worth, just feeling like I needed to measure up with all of my friends around me," she revealed in an episode of her show, according to Us Weekly.
Duggar explained how her obsessive thoughts spiraled out of control and led to drastic actions.
"I just really began to have a wrong view of who I was and felt like I gained weight so easily. I ended up starting a bad habit of making myself get sick after I would eat, especially if I had more food than I felt like I should eat."
"It was destructive for my health and my life," she added.
As a mother of 19 kids, Duggar explained the importance of living a healthy lifestyle to make sure her children follow in her footsteps. She highlighted the added pressure that girls face in order to achieve "perfection" with their bodies and the way that they look, though she stresses that appearance is not everything.
"I think all girls probably struggle with the same body issues. The struggle is going to be there," Jim Bob's wife said. "And I just talk with my kids - my girls, my boys - and I'm honest with them about the things that I struggled with."
Michelle Duggar praised her husband for always being by her side, even at the toughest moments.
"Jim Bob has never put me down for my body," she said at the time. "He has never mocked me for my mommy tummy. He is one of my biggest encouragers," she said back in February on the "Today Show."
On a final note, life is about indulging, but having self-control at the same time and Duggar offered some advice:
"Life is too short to never have a chocolate chip cookie. But you need to be wise in how you do that," the reality star said.
