Tammy Roman has revealed that she has struggled with body dysmorphia and an eating disorder since she was 13, saying that her obsession with losing weight inspired her to shut her mouth.
The Basketball Wives star opened up about her ongoing battle with her body image and her weight fluctuations due to type 2 diabetes during a recent episode. Real,
‘I am suffering from the body’ [dysmorphic] disorder, and I’ve been dealing with it since I was 13,’ Roman, 50, told the hosts. ‘Many people do not know that it is either hereditary or genetic or comes from a negative experience, where your self-image has been destroyed.’
The Candidate: Tammy Roman, 50, revealed her struggles with body dysmorphic disorder and how it led to the eating disorder during a recent episode of The Real
Concerns: Roman sparked fears for his health last month after fans took note of his massive weight loss in his recent Instagram post. This is photographed in September 2017 (L) and October 2021 (R)
Body dysmorphic disorder (BBD) is a mental health disorder in which you can’t stop thinking about perceived flaws or flaws in your appearance. Mayo Clinic,
Roman reported that he developed the disorder after meeting a modeling agency as a young teen, which destroyed his confidence.
‘For me, when I was 13, I wanted to be a model. You know we’re from New York. I was tall, I was 5’9, I was skinny. And I went to this agency and walked in, and that woman tore me to pieces,’ she recalled. ‘I thought I was right: 5’9″, under 120 pounds. Sure, they’re going to sign me.
‘ And he literally put me in front of a mirror and said, “Your folds, your knees are fat. You need to do something with your chin. Your breasts are loosening.” And I went home that night, and from that moment on, every time I looked at myself in the mirror, I felt something wrong with myself.’
The Real World alum said that she didn’t know what body dysmorphic disorder was at the time or how to deal with it. She only knew that she had to be ‘skinny’ if she wanted to be a model.
Looking back: Basketball Wives star reveals she wanted to be a model at age 13 and assumed she would be signed with an agency because she was tall and skinny
Tough: However, she said the agent “kicked me out,” telling her she had back folds and fat on her knees. From that moment on, he saw flaws only when he looked in the mirror
“I started abusing laxatives, I didn’t eat, I started throwing up, I started doing everything I could think of to be thinner than I could be, obsessing about my weight loss is,” she said. ‘People don’t know, so I shaved my face to be skinny in 1993, when I was already skinny.’
Roman sparked fears for his health last month when fans took note of his massive weight loss in his recent Instagram post. She explained on the show that her diabetes as well as her body dysmorphia made it difficult for her to manage.
“Now at age 50, I’ve been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and so my weight varies with that, and you say that with the disorder, it’s hard to manage,” she said.
‘People don’t understand what it’s like to be a person with this disorder, especially dealing with weight issues, because they leave negative comments – or what they feel are negative comments. But for me I have such a distorted sense of perception, it is a compliment.’
The Struggle: Roman (pictured in 1994) shared that she became obsessed with losing weight and shut her mouth in 1993 to lose the weight, even though she was already thin
The struggle: ‘I started abusing laxatives, I didn’t start eating, I started throwing up, I started doing everything I could think of to be thinner than I could,’ she said
The reality star admitted that being told she looks ‘weak’ or ‘like a bobblehead’ makes her feel ‘on the right track’ and ‘getting skinny’.
‘Then I don’t know when to stop,’ she said.
Roman’s weight has been a hot topic over the years, and he was even criticized by former Basketball Wives co-star Evelyn Lozada during an episode in 2018.
Lozada quipped at him, “You need to worry about something else, like your health.” You’re looking like a crackhead these days… take vitamins. Your legs look like two mothers ** King candle flames burning in God’s incense.
Roman later addressed his weight issues, chalking it up to his battle with diabetes.
Ongoing battle: Roman tells talk show that his body dysmorphia with type 2 diabetes makes it difficult to manage
Health concerns: The mother of two said that her weight fluctuates due to type 2 diabetes. She is pictured in April 2017 and November 2021
Mixed messages: Roman admits he has a ‘distorted sense of perception’ that negative comments about his looking too thin make him feel like ‘compliments’.
‘I have diabetes, right? So for me, my weight is very serious,’ she said in season seven. ‘I finally decided to take charge of my f**king life so that I could live for my kids and my man, and because of that, I lost weight. I am 48 years old. you know what I’m saying? So that’s how my body reacts to make the right choice with my diet.’
Roman also lost weight in 2012, which she attributed to the weight loss pill NV Clinical, for which she was a spokesperson at the time.
‘I lost seven pounds in the first week of taking NV without making any major changes in my life,’ she said Shape magazine.
Roman rose to fame on the second season of MTV’s The Real World in 1993, and the following year she married NBA player Kenny Anderson. She and Anderson had two daughters together – Lyric and Jazz, before their divorce in 2001.
She worked as an actress and had small roles before being cast in the VH1 Housewives-inspired reality series Basketball Wives. Since then, she has appeared in Marriage Boot Camp and BET’s The Family Business.
Roman married her second husband Reggie Youngblood in 2018. She is currently starring in The Miss Pat Show on BET+ and will also appear in season two of The Real World: Homecoming on Paramount+ in November.