Teen starved herself to just 5st 5lb after becoming obsessed with having a ‘supermodel thigh gap’ and was so ill her organs started shrinking
Becky Turner-Knowles, now 20, was just 15 when she began to obsess about her weight
A WOMAN has revealed how she starved herself as a teenager after becoming obsessed with achieving a "thigh gap".
Becky Turner-Knowles was just 15 when her desire for a “supermodel” space where her thighs meet took over her life.
By the time she was 18, she'd overshot her goal and weighed just 5st 5lbs after starving herself and spending hours in the gym.
But, instead of urging her to get help, the university student's friends congratulated her on her new look.
Some even commented that she looked “amazing”.
Now recovered, Becky, 20, said: “I was starving and in pain from the daily hours of exercise I was doing and so miserable on the inside.
“But friends kept telling me how amazing I looked and it spurred me on. On reflection I can see how awful I looked. It's shocking.”
Becky admits she had always felt bigger than her friends but thought once she hit puberty the puppy fat would disappear.
She said: “I had dreams of my chubbiness melting away like the ugly duckling turning into a swan.
“But while my school friends suddenly sprang lovely long legs, tiny waists and C-cup boobs, I was still plain old me, with my barrel waist and chubby cheeks. I was so disappointed."
It was around her 16th birthday that the 20-year-old, from Canterbury, became obsessed with glossy magazines, poring over the pages of long-legged models sporting thigh gaps and hollowed cheeks.
“Gigi Hadid was my absolute idol. One day as I looked at yet another stunning picture thinking I would give ANYTHING to look like that - and something clicked.
“I left my bedroom and signed up to my local gym, going four times a week and spending hours on the running machine and lifting weights.
“Within weeks I was receiving compliments on my new figure and the praise spurred me on. I didn't want to stop until I looked as good as Gigi.”
But although at 5ft 5in tall her weight was a healthy 9st 7lbs Becky's parents Claire and Tim, now both 45, were concerned at the rate their daughter seemed to be disappearing.
She was still eating breakfast and sitting around the family dinner table for home-cooked meals in the evening but within months Becky's gym sessions were now daily and she would spend her lunch breaks at work walking around her home town, in Kent.
Things took another turn for the worse when, in September 2015, Becky moved to Winchester to begin a university degree.
She revealed: “Suddenly I was in control of my own calorie intake and I began counting everything that passed my lips.
“I couldn't afford the gym so instead I spent my days walking on just a small bowl of cereal for lunch, a single, plain pitta bread for lunch and a tiny dinner.
“Suddenly the weight just dropped off and I had the thigh gap I'd always dreamed of.
“My new friends thought I looked amazing too.
“'Wow! You're so skinny!', they'd say praising me. They had no idea I was starving myself as I was soon just living on a pitta and an apple a day.
“But Skyping Mum got a different reaction. She'd interrupt our catch-ups to tell me I was too thin but I batted away her concern. I told her I was eating properly and that she needed to stop worrying.
“Then when I got home by January last year I was down to six stone and wearing Size 6 clothes."
Now in the grips of anorexia, Becky didn't have the strength to return to university after Christmas so quit her course.
Her mum found a local eating disorder unit called Redhouse Stone Hospital in Maidstone, Kent, and she was admitted.
But although she travelled an hour each day to eat lunch and snacks at the unit, she would punish herself by starving in the evenings and at weekends.
What is anorexia?
Anorexia nervosa is a very serious mental health condition and eating disorder.
It is one of the leading causes of mental health-related deaths, as a result of malnutrition or suicide.
Sufferers will aim to keep their body weight as low as possible by avoiding food, vomiting or exercising excessively.
Anorexia usually develops at around 16 or 17 years old, with girls and women are most likely to be affected.
However, recently a growing number of boys and men have been diagnosed with anorexia.
Sufferers will often go to great lengths to disguise the fact they are not eating, which can make anorexia hard to spot in people.
The treatment for the condition usually includes a combination of psychological therapy and supervised weight gain.
Within weeks Becky's weight had plummeted to just 5st 5lbs and she was a shocking Size 4 - the famed US Size Zero.
She said: “I took pictures from every angle, desperate for my thigh gap to look bigger than the last photo.
“In my mind I was getting close enough to perfection, but I wasn't quite there...until my GP tried to give me a shocking wake-up call.
“He told me my organs were shrinking and that my body was beginning to shut down – but still I ignored the warnings.”
Gravely ill, Becky's parents admitted her to the Priory Hospital Hayes Grove, in Bromley, and finally she was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
“I was shocked by my GP and hurt that my parents would do that to me at first but after a lot of therapy I began to understand exactly how much damage I was doing to myself and did as I was told.
“Slowly my weight crept up to eight stone and I was discharged.
“For the first time in as long as I could remember I actually felt good about myself. I even entered a beauty pageant in Kent – and won Miss Congeniality and Miss Charity after standing up and talking about my journey.
“I'm so glad I turned things around and am finally a good and healthy example to my little sister Lucy, 14.
“I don't buy fashion magazines anymore, or aspire to look like Gigi Hadid. Everyone is beautiful, no matter what shape or size they are.”
And thigh gaps aren't the only celebrity body trend for teens like Becky to aspire to.
We've also revealed how 'ab cracks' and 'mermaid thighs' have also made a splash on social media.
For more information about anorexia, or to seek help, visit .