{"id":1960744,"date":"2025-08-14T20:43:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T20:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1960744"},"modified":"2025-08-14T20:43:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T20:43:30","slug":"wellness-influencer-lee-tilghman-opens-up-about-eating-disorder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wellness-influencer-lee-tilghman-opens-up-about-eating-disorder\/","title":{"rendered":"Wellness Influencer Lee Tilghman Opens Up About Eating Disorder"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It looked like Lee Tilghman<\/strong> had it all during her height as a wellness influencer<\/a> from 2014 to 2019.<\/p>\n

But Instagram is not real life, and off-camera, Tilghman, 35, was suffering from anxiety, depression and an eating disorder<\/a> that controlled her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was soul-killing,\u201d she told the celebrity.land<\/em><\/a> in a story published Wednesday, August 13.<\/p>\n

Known as @LeeFromAmerica on Instagram, Tilghman had more than 400,000 followers at her peak and was making $300,000 a year via sponsored posts. But, as she explains in her new memoir, If You Don\u2019t Like This Post, I Will Die<\/em>, her diet began to dominate her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did two twenty-one-day cleanses back-to-back,\u201d she writes. \u201cI got rid of gluten, dairy, soy, peanuts, and sugar. I paid [a Reiki-certified healer] the first half of an $8,000 coaching package, which included breathwork, moon circles, and unlimited text support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obsessed with her image, Tilghman said she would often take up to 200 photos just to find one in which she thought she looked thin enough to post. She was so afraid of ingesting something she had cut out of her diet that she stopped going out to eat.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Lee Tilghman\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even when she was honest with her followers, posting about her health struggles and past with anorexia<\/a>, the opportunities kept rolling in. Those opportunities kept her glued to her phone, feeding the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put my health [and Instagram] above everything, including family and relationships,\u201d she told the Post<\/em>. \u201cIf your body is a temple and you treat it super well and you eat all the right foods and do all the things, but you don\u2019t have anyone close to you because you\u2019re trying to control your life so much, it\u2019s a dark place.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Florence<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Florence Pugh: ‘I’m Never Losing Weight’ to Look ‘Fantastic’ for a Movie<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tAs these Hollywood celebrities show in their words, actions and online posts, the body-positivity movement has officially entered the mainstream. Well-known activists have used social media as a tool to spread more messages of self-love to their fans. Mindy Kaling made a splash when she posted a series of photos of herself wearing different two-piece [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The beginning of the end came in 2018 when Tilghman organized a wellness workshop, charging $350 for the cheapest tickets. She faced steep criticism for her so-called white privilege, and her apology only made things worse, as she began losing sponsors.<\/p>\n

Around the same time, her apartment flooded. It was at that point that she realized almost everything she owned was a gift from a brand in search of promotion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a prop too \u2014 a disposable, soulless, increasingly emaciated mannequin used by companies to sell more stuff,\u201d she writes in her book. \u201cWe all were \u2014 all the billions of us who thought we were using Instagram when really it was the other way around.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Kesha<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>‘I Don’t Weigh Myself\u2019: Kesha Details ‘Beautiful’ Eating Disorder Recovery<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tKesha opened up about the \u201cbeautiful\u201d healing process she\u2019s undergone since she sought treatment for her eating disorder. The pop star, 36, explained that the first step was checking into rehab in 2014 for an inpatient program to treat her bulimia. \u201cI had a particular moment with my eating disorder when the anxiety just got [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In 2019, Tilghman deleted her Instagram and checked herself into a six-week intensive treatment center for her eating disorder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like an addict when they\u2019re so done with their drug of choice that they can\u2019t wait to throw it away,\u201d she said of her first day without Instagram. \u201cIt was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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