Mel C has revealed she banned people discussing diets in her home in front of her 10-year-old daughter after battling an eating disorder.
The Spice Girl, 45, previously spoke about how she “obsessively exercised” and “cut out food groups” while five member girl band were at their height of their fame in the 90s.
She was later diagnosed with depression as well as an eating disorder.
Speaking to Women’s Health, the singer – whose full name is Melanie Chisholm – has said her experiences have changed the way she raised her daughter, Scarlet.
She told the magazine: “I didn’t ever allow people to speak about diets in our house.
“Scarlet’s 10 years old now and I’m starting to notice that she’s more conscious of the way she looks, but I think one of the positives of having gone through having an eating disorder is that I’m very conscious of how I speak around her. That positive language – it’s habit now.”
Mel C in Women’s Health magazine-In Pictures
1/6
Mel C appears on the cover of the November Mind Issue of Women’s Health UK, talking about the battle with her mental and physical health.
Women’s Health UK/Rachell Smith
2/6
Mel C appears on the cover of the November Mind Issue of Women’s Health UK, talking about the battle with her mental and physical health.
Women’s Health UK/Rachell Smith
3/6
Mel C appears on the cover of the November Mind Issue of Women’s Health UK, talking about the battle with her mental and physical health.
Women’s Health UK/Rachell Smith
4/6
Mel C appears on the cover of the November Mind Issue of Women’s Health UK, talking about the battle with her mental and physical health.
Women’s Health UK/Rachell Smith
5/6
Mel C appears on the cover of the November Mind Issue of Women’s Health UK, talking about the battle with her mental and physical health.
Women’s Health UK/Rachell Smith
6/6
Mel C appears on the cover of the November Mind Issue of Women’s Health UK, talking about the battle with her mental and physical health.
Women’s Health UK/Rachell Smith
1/6
Mel C appears on the cover of the November Mind Issue of Women’s Health UK, talking about the battle with her mental and physical health.
Women’s Health UK/Rachell Smith
2/6
Mel C appears on the cover of the November Mind Issue of Women’s Health UK, talking about the battle with her mental and physical health.
Women’s Health UK/Rachell Smith
3/6
Mel C appears on the cover of the November Mind Issue of Women’s Health UK, talking about the battle with her mental and physical health.
Women’s Health UK/Rachell Smith
4/6
Mel C appears on the cover of the November Mind Issue of Women’s Health UK, talking about the battle with her mental and physical health.
Women’s Health UK/Rachell Smith
5/6
Mel C appears on the cover of the November Mind Issue of Women’s Health UK, talking about the battle with her mental and physical health.
Women’s Health UK/Rachell Smith
6/6
Mel C appears on the cover of the November Mind Issue of Women’s Health UK, talking about the battle with her mental and physical health.
Women’s Health UK/Rachell Smith
Chisholm added that comments she read about herself in the press affected her view of how she looked.
“These days with social media, everyone has an opinion, but in the 90s, it was what journalists were saying about you, and some of those things were disgusting,” she added. “You wouldn’t get away with it now.
“I started not looking after myself properly, cutting out food groups, and my exercising became more and more obsessive, to the point that I was underweight. I was unwell and that probably continued for a couple of years.”
Read the full Mel C interview in the November 2019 Mind Issue of Women’s Health, on sale from the October 1 2019. Also available as a digital edition.
For help, support and advice with eating disorders, call Beat on 0808 801 0677 or visit www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk
