Vogue Williams reveals devastating impact of body image pressures starting from her teen years

Vogue Williams has laid bare the haunting effects of body image pressure, admitting that her battles with disordered eating began when she was just 16.

In a brutally honest conversation on her hit podcast My Therapist Ghosted Me, co-hosted with Joanne McNally, the TV star opened up about the toxic expectations she faced from the early days of her modelling career. From relentless diet advice to unhealthy gym regimes, Williams recalled the suffocating world she was thrust into as a teenager.

“There’s always someone telling you to do something,” she confessed. “I always think, train and eat as well as you can—there’s no way anyone can eat healthy all the time. But I used to do that b******* all the time, and it did make me have disordered eating for a while.”

Williams, now a mother of three, described how she fell prey to extreme dieting plans pushed on her by so-called experts. “I’d go on these mental diets,” she said. “I’d go to this new gym and they’d be like, ‘You can only eat this’ or ‘You can’t have ketchup.'”

The relentless pressure to conform to an unattainable image left lasting scars. Williams described how, even today, young girls are bombarded with unrealistic standards that warp their perceptions of their own bodies.

“Since I was 16 there’s been that kind of thing of, now you have to do this to look like this,” she continued. “It can be quite full-on, and for younger girls having to look at that s***, it’s a bit of a nightmare.”

Her voice grew sharper as she criticised the social media-fuelled culture that demands physical perfection. The illusion of the ‘perfect body,’ she warned, has become more dangerous and more pervasive than ever before, seeping into the minds of vulnerable teenagers.

Williams’ admission struck a nerve with listeners, many of whom praised her for speaking so candidly about a topic often brushed under the carpet. Her words served as a stark reminder of the hidden costs that come with chasing the unattainable ideals plastered across magazines, adverts, and Instagram feeds.

Behind the glamorous images, she painted a grim reality: extreme diets, emotional turmoil, and a constant sense of inadequacy. It’s a cycle she fears younger generations may find impossible to break without real, widespread change.

For those less familiar with Williams, she is married to Made in Chelsea alum Spencer Matthews, and together they share three children. Despite the glossy image of her life today, Williams’ revelation proves that fame and success do not shield anyone from the insidious reach of body image pressures.

As the episode drew to a close, her message to young girls was clear and unflinching: “It’s mad. It’s a bit of a nightmare.” A reminder that behind every filtered photo, there may well be a silent struggle unfolding.