Zoƫ Kravitz on eating disorder: 'I Felt Pressured'
theGrio REPORT - Zoƫ Kravitz is the daughter of a rock icon and a legendary teenage tv star - yet her life hasn't always been as charmed as you'd think.
ZoĆ« Kravitz is the daughter of a rock icon and a legendary teenage tv star āĀ yet her life hasn’t always been as charmed as you’d think.
In theĀ April/May cover ofĀ Complex, she talks about her battle with anorexia and bulimia as a teen and the trappings of growing up with such widely idolized parents.
She tells Complex:
“I had a really hard time when I was 16, 17, 18. I started with the eating disorder in high schoolā¦.ā She trails off at this, and puts her hand to the side of her face, rubbing her right ear, and then dials back to the beginning of that thought: āJust [a hard time] loving myself.ā
In high school, she became anorexic and bulimicāāawful diseasesā sheād battle to various degrees until the last two or so years. And here, sheās willing to acknowledge to a certain degree her pedigree playing a darker kind of role: āI think it was part of being a woman, and being surrounded by [fame],ā she explains, before backtracking: āI donāt think it was about the fame, but I think it was definitely about being around that world, seeing that world. I felt pressured.ā
Kravitz also shares thatĀ her mom, Lisa Bonet, was worriedĀ she might slip into old habits while shootingĀ The Road Within in which she playedĀ young woman battling anorexia:
“It was f****d up, man,ā she sighs. āYou could see my rib cage. I was just trying to lose more weight for the film but I couldnāt see: Youāre there. Stop. It was scary.ā She got sick after filming wrapped. She didnāt get her period regularly because she was too malnourished. Her immune system shut down, her thyroid was thrown off. Recovering from the brutal shoot, she wasnāt receptive to praises from friends who were happy she was gaining weight, either. āI was like, āI donāt want to gain weight,ā as opposed to being like, āGood, Iām a normal human being.
“My motherās a…,ā she says, hesitating, ā…beautiful woman, and I think, in some way, I felt intimidated by that sometimes.ā Also: āMy dad dated a lot of supermodels,ā she laughs.
“Everyone sees themselves in some weird, obscure way.ā She says her mom also struggles with her own insecurities. āPeople meet her and donāt know what to do with themselves, butāāand here, she takes care to emphasize with convictionāāshe doesnāt know how f*****g cool she is. Or what she means to the rest of the world.”
To read even more from Kravitz’s candid new interview, check out the latest issue of Complex.