Tallulah Willis On Why She Revealed Her Eating Disorder

Tallulah Willis is “trying every day” while recovering from an eating disorder.

The 29-year-old actress and daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, who revealed earlier this year that she’s struggled with anorexia, appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show Wednesday and opened up about why she chose to share her experience.

“I felt like the things that had occurred in more recent years, I very visibly was struggling with an eating disorder and because of the age of social media and that was very present and there was actually a tremendous amount of concern for me that I got on my Instagram, and as I’m early in recovery in that, it’s interesting to talk about it because I don’t know if I had my full footing, I’m just trying every day,” she told host Drew Barrymore.

“I wanted to talk about that because I felt like it was really important to share that it was very scary, that it was really hard,” Tallulah added.

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In May, the actress opened up about her eating disorder and having body dysmorphia in a personal essay for Vogue, in which she wrote, “For the last four years, I have suffered from anorexia nervosa.”

She also talked candidly about depression and being diagnosed with ADHD and borderline personality disorder.

Tallulah said she was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when she was 25 and had started medication to treat it. However she said the medication also came with an “appetite-​suppressant side effect,” which she had welcomed at first.

“There’s an unhealthy deliciousness at the beginning of losing weight rapidly,” she wrote at the time. “People are like, ‘Oh wow!’ And then quickly it turns to, ‘Are you okay?’ My friends and family were terrified, and I dismissed it.”

She said by the spring of 2022 she couldn’t walk around her Los Angeles neighborhood because she “was afraid of not having a place to sit down and catch my breath.”

The actress then revealed that after her relationship with her then-boyfriend ended in June of the same year, her family “stepped in” and sent her to Driftwood Recovery, a rehabilitation center in Texas, where she learned she also had borderline personality disorder. After leaving the facility, she said she had a newfound focus on recovery and rebuilding her relationship with her family and her father in particular.

Bruce, 68, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in February, and Tallulah noted the importance of savoring time with her dad in her essay.

“Recovery is probably lifelong, but I now have the tools to be present in all facets of my life, and especially in my relationship with my dad,” she said.

“In the past I was so afraid of being destroyed by sadness, but finally I feel that I can show up and be relied upon. I can savor that time, hold my dad’s hand, and feel that it’s wonderful,” Tallulah continued in the essay. “That whole thing about loving yourself before you can love somebody else — it’s real.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, please go to NationalEatingDisorders.org.