Hilaria Baldwin has disclosed the extreme measures she took during a 20-year battle with eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, and cycles of overeating and undereating. In an interview with Page Six Radio, Baldwin, now 42, shared that her struggles began as early as age 5 with dieting.
She described a period where her eating disorder became so severe that she began counting the calories in toothpaste, expressing fear over potential caloric intake from such an item. Baldwin also noted that she "really struggled" with distinguishing hunger and fullness cues as she got older. "I look back and I looked fine," she recalled, "But I thought I was a whale [back then]. I just thought there was something broken inside of me."
Baldwin stated that she dedicated significant effort to overcoming her eating disorder before having children. She credited her ADHD with enabling a "hyper-focused" approach to her healing process. "I don't want to live this way; I'm miserable," she said of her past state, explaining that her condition impacted her ability to maintain healthy relationships and engage in social dining.
To prevent passing on these struggles, Baldwin emphasizes open and honest conversations about food with her seven children. She aims to empower them by discussing strength and how different foods make them feel. While she doesn't always endorse her children's choices, such as eating unhealthy snacks, she refrains from shaming them. As an example of her current perspective, Baldwin mentioned her eagerness to share a video of herself and her youngest daughter enjoying ice cream late at night, an activity she would have previously feared.
Baldwin first publicly discussed her past eating disorder challenges in her 2016 memoir, "The Living Clearly Method." She further elaborated on her healing journey in a 2018 Instagram post, where she wrote that true health is about "not focusing on weight and rather on how I feel, how strong I am, and how healthy I am." She believes weight and appearance are byproducts of health, not the primary focus, and that shifting her focus to overall health alleviated her weight obsessions.