Tammin Sursok talks about pregnancy after eating disorder

An actress has revealed how she has tackled parenting two daughters after being in the grips of an eating disorder for eight years.

An actress has revealed how she has tackled parenting two daughters after being in the grips of an eating disorder for eight years.

Tammin Sursok, known for her roles in Home And Away and Pretty Little Liars, recently appeared on kicbump to discuss her body image following her pregnancy with Steph Claire Smith.

The actress said she loved being pregnant and felt in tune with her body, saying that food tasted better and sex was more enjoyable — something she knows many don’t say.

She said she may have felt different if she wasn’t “little with a big bump”.

Sursok married Sean McEwen in 2011, and the pair had two children — Phoenix, 10, and Lennon, 5.

However, she had issues regarding the post-partum portion of that journey.

“It really just was this fear that being a certain size meant that I wasn’t enough,” the 41-year-old said, saying she felt uncomfortable by things such as excess skin.

“I think my body is the least interesting thing about me. I think to be the best parent, you got to your own demons.”

Sursok said her body completely changed after having her second child.

But it was something she had to accept, revealing the older she got, the less interested she was when people discussed looks.

Tammin Sursok is an Australian actress. Picture: Instagram/@tamminsursok

The star said while she enjoyed working out, her looks are no longer her main focus when there is so much in the universe to consider.

She said while she still has those conversations sometimes and isn’t discouraging people from doing things such as getting Botox, she wants to have “bigger thoughts” and her daughters have helped her with that.

She said she cares about her sleep, her mental health and eating protein — but it’s about not ending up in the hospital not about her looks. She said she never wants her girls to feel the way she did.

“I don’t ever talk about my body — even if I’m not proud of it or feeling my best or putting myself down,” she said.

She said now she has children, she hardly ever looks in the mirror.

Sursok said her 10-year-old would make comments such as “I’m so fat today”, and the actress would pull her up and show that body fat is a natural and not shameful part of life.

She also teaches that no food is off limits, but it’s important to be mindful about how the food makes you feel.

She said she tries not to talk about her body. Picture: Instagram/@tamminsursok

The mother-of-two has been open about her experience of having an eating disorder, revealing being overweight as a teenager pushed her to want to change her habits and lose that weight.

However, it quickly turned into a slippery slope and the actress found herself in the grips of an eating disorder as her fame started to rise.

Health issues unfolded — stomach and dental issues — but she kept it a secret.

In 2019, she shared an image where she said she was at the height of her eating disorder.

“I remember how sad I felt. Ha. Pictures lie, don’t they? I was dying to be perfect. The illusion of perfection that one cannot attain. For perfection is a road that never reaches a destination,” she said.

“I was not well for eight years — 15 years old to 23 years old. Eight years of torture I put myself through to remain slim after I had been tormented as an overweight kid.

“For I feared that if I went back to that then the emotional pain would be worse than the physical one I was putting myself through. Your secrets make you sick. And I believe the more we talk about our truth the less isolated we become. We start to heal.”

Originally published as Tammin Sursok talks about pregnancy after eating disorder