Charli D'Amelio Said She Has An Eating Disorder And Admitted She Was "Afraid" To Speak About It Publicly

"Ultimately I hope that by sharing this I can help someone else."

It's safe to say Charli D'Amelio is one of the most recognisable teens in the world right now. She's shot to fame in the last year, becoming the most-followed user on TikTok in March, and her audience has only continued to grow since.

Instagram: @charlidamelio

But over the last few months, the 16-year-old has been honest with fans about her experiences with the negative sides of fame, particularly in relation to body-shaming and online harassment.

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"It's not your place to tell me if I'm losing weight or gaining weight," Charli tweeted in April after body-shaming comments led her to delete a bikini photo from Instagram. "Why don't we all just be respectful and understand that we should just be kind and uplift everyone instead of trying to bring others down."

She opened up about the situation further in an interview with her family last month, saying that when you have followers, people just see you as an object "to judge and objectify and call names and bully."

"[They think] most of the time they're not going to see it," Charli said at the time. "I'll say something back, and then it's, 'I never thought you were gonna see it.' They don't expect it to hurt us."

The D'Amelio Family / youtube.com

Now, in a lengthy post on her Instagram story, Charli has opened up about dealing with an eating disorder, saying she had been "afraid" to share her experience publicly.

Instagram: @charlidamelio

"I've never talked about my own struggles with eating disorders," Charli wrote. "It's so uncomfortable to admit to even your closest friends and family, let alone the world."

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"I've been afraid to share that I have an eating disorder, but ultimately I hope that by sharing this I can help someone else," she added. "I know eating disorders are something that so many other people are also battling behind closed doors."

She went on to "deeply and truly apologise" for lip syncing to Beach Bunny's song "Prom Queen" in a now-deleted TikTok, acknowleding the lyrics could be triggering to some.

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The song begins with the lyrics: "Shut up, count your calories / I never look good in mom jeans / Wish I was like you / Blue-eyed blondie, perfect body."

"To anyone I could have hurt by unintentionally playing a song and not realising that those lyrics could have triggered you, I deeply and truly apologise and I hope you know that I never intended to cause you harm," Charli wrote in her Instagram post.

Charli concluded her post by encouraging her followers dealing with eating disorders to reach out and ask for help, including a swipe up link to the National Eating Disorders Association.

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"For anyone that is struggling with this, I know some days can be worse than others," she wrote. "I need you to know you are not alone. Remember it's OK to reach out and get help. We all need help sometimes."