Emily Seebohm reveals devastating impact of ‘horrible’ break-up

Emily Seebohm has opened up on her eating disorder on national TV, revealing a terrible break-up sparked her downward spiral.

Australian swimmer Emily Seebohm has revealed her traumatic split from ex-boyfriend Mitch Larkin played a part in her developing an eating disorder.

Seebohm and fellow swim star Larkin broke up in 2018 and messy details were aired in public as social media swipes and cryptic posts made their love life headline-grabbing news.

Seebohm, who competed in her fourth Olympics when she went to Tokyo last year, has been open in the past about her issues with eating disorders and body image.

“I’ve binged, purged and taken laxatives. I’ve counted calories, skipped meals and constantly weighed myself,” Seebohm wrote at the start of 2021.

“I’ve been embarrassed to be in my togs. I have judged my body every time I have been in front of a mirror.

“I’ve been told that the only way I can swim faster is by losing weight and I have believed it.”

Seebohm is a contestant on the new season of Channel 10’s I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here and spoke about her personal issues in Tuesday night’s episode.

“So, 2018 I went through a real big break-up, like, real horrible break-up,” the 29-year-old told her fellow campmates.

“It just really started me in this horrible pattern of going as long as I could without food, over-exercising. And then I’d go home and for dinner I’d have, like, a glass of milk.”

Seebohm said the problems were exacerbated by people complimenting her figure as she lost weight.

Larkin and Seebohm’s relationship breakdown played out in public.

She went into a downward spiral after the split.

“After that, a lot of people kept being like, ‘Oh my god you look fantastic, what have you been doing?’” she said.

“It started a horrible pattern. Sometimes I’m not the best with being open with people and letting them know that I’m struggling, because I think as an athlete, you never want to seem like a weak person.

“I even lost my period for about a year-and-a-half. That’s how bad, like, I was malnourishing my body.

“I used to go to training and cry because I was in my togs and I felt so uncomfortable … You don’t even feel like you’re in your body.

“I used to go to meets and I’d be like, ‘Oh my God, I’m the biggest person here. I’m never going to make it’.

“At that point. I was just like, this is the bottom. This is the bottom for me, I need help. So I saw the dietitian and that was the best thing that I ever did.”

Injuries and illness hit Seebohm hard at different stages of her career. She competed at the Rio Olympics in 2016 — winning a relay medal but struggling in her individual events — and later admitted to feeling “flat and down in a dark hole”.

“Some days I just couldn’t get up. I just couldn’t make my body do it. I was too tired,” she told News Corp in 2017. “I wasn’t riding my horse, I couldn’t go to pole-dancing, I was doing none of that stuff I love to do and I missed the fun of it.

“I thought I was losing my mind. I would say … ‘This isn’t me. What’s wrong with me? Why am I struggling?’”

Seebohm’s performance in Tokyo was truly inspirational. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

The backstroke specialist didn’t make the Australian team for the 2019 World Championships in South Korea and it looked like her time wearing the gold cap may have been over for good.

She changed coaches, leaving Brisbane to train under Michael Bohl on the Gold Coast, refusing to give up on her dream of competing at a fourth Olympics.

The swimmer provided one of the most emotional moments of last year’s Tokyo Games. She won bronze in the 200m backstroke — Seebohm’s first individual Olympic medal since London in 2012 — and broke down in her pool deck interview as she tried to find the words to express how she was feeling.

“It’s so amazing, I never thought this was going to happen again,” she said among the waterworks. “I just feel so lucky.

“I’m not a crier normally, I’m not a crier at all.

“I’m just so proud. The team has done so well and it’s an absolute dream to be on this team and I’m so grateful for all the times I’ve been on the Australian swim team. Honestly, it’s been the favourite thing of my entire career to be on this team.

“I feel a bit like wine, it gets better as it ages. I feel like a bit of a fine wine at the moment.”