Copyright irishmirror
Veteran RTE broadcaster Miriam O’Callaghan has opened up about a difficult health battle she endured during her teenage years. The radio legend , 65, spoke about her youth, including being “a little lost” in secondary school – and she recalled locking herself in the toilet at discos for the entire night. However, while studying law at UCD at the age of 16, her weight dropped to just seven stone. Writing in her new memoir called Miriam: Life, Work, Everything, she said that “having lost so much… I became fixated on keeping it off… I didn’t have anorexia but I clearly had an eating disorder.” According to the HSE, eating disorders can happen at any age, but they usually first develop in the teenage years, and it is considered to be a “mental health condition where you have an unhealthy attitude towards food”. Noticeable weight loss, eating smaller portions and becoming withdrawn and irritable are just three warning signs in a child or young person. And speaking to the Sunday Independent’s Life magazine about her eating disorder, Miriam, who was born in Foxrock, Dublin, said: “I really wasn’t confident, and maybe that’s why I didn’t eat enough, and got very thin. Now, when I look at some of the pictures…” Despite now presenting her award-winning Sunday with Miriam RTE Radio One slot show, where recent guests have included Penny Lancaster and Brendan Gleeson, confidence is still something she keeps to herself. She said even to this day, she will be “quite quiet” at family parties and she finds happiness in listening to the banter her sisters have. And going back to her eating disorder, and how thankfully it didn't impact her long-term, she added: “My parents were good. They never panicked, which I thought for me was good. “I went to university at 16, I was quite young. Some people might have been more mature. I wasn’t. But you know, it stands to me. The insecure 16-year-old still wonders, ‘Will anyone be bothered to read it?’ (new book) But it makes me, hopefully, not a pain in the a**e.” After becoming a lawyer, Miriam was able to feel more confident, and then, after having her first child, Alannah, at 26, she said “you really can’t go round feeling insecure, because you need to be there for her”. She added: “And I do think it makes you think - ‘that’s a great achievement, I’ve become a mother.’ You’re never really worried about yourself, because you’re really worried about them. You think, 'I need to be grown up here, I need to give her everything she needs.'” Miriam is now cherished for being a well-known broadcaster and earlier this year acting superstar Brendan Gleeson paid her a huge complement. Kicking off her show, Miriam, now a mother-of-eight, said: “But first this morning, actor and national treasure, Brendan Gleeson, is here in studio, morning to you Brendan.” Laughing at the kind introduction, Harry Potter star Brendan replied: “Bit of a national treasure yourself.” However, staying humble as ever, Miriam quipped:” Yeah, rubbish!”
