PinkPantheress opens up about living with body dysmorphia her “whole life”

PinkPantheress has said that she has lived with body dysmorphia for her “whole life”.

The mental health charity Mind defines body dysmorphia as “an anxiety disorder related to body image” that can be diagnosed if a person “experiences obsessive worries about one or more perceived flaws in their physical appearance, and the flaw can’t be seen by others or appears very slight”. In some cases, “worries about their appearance may make it difficult to go out in public or see other people”.

Pink said that her body dysmorphia is part of the reason she is still reluctant to get in front of a camera. “I was really young when I started [music]: I was still developing into my looks,” Pink told NME in this week’s Big Read. “Seeing myself on camera, especially with other people choosing what pictures to put out there, was very hard for me. I just hated it, because I felt like people were going to see pictures of me and they’re going to think I look like that.”

She continued: “I don’t like to know what people think. I hate it. That’s why I was anonymous, because I don’t want people to ever comment on anything. I’ve suffered with body dysmorphia my whole life, and even more recently.”

Pink also said that she didn’t take selfies or wear make-up before she started doing music.  “I didn’t do anything to facilitate feeling confident or looking good, or my version of what that looks like. That’s what I wrote ‘Boy’s A Liar’ about: that feeling that someone’s only interested in you when you look good, and oftentimes I don’t look good.”

Pink also spoke about performing ‘Misery Business’ with Paramore at Austin City Limits last October. “It was really fun and it was really scary,” she says now. “Just the amount of people there watching. I was thinking to myself the whole time, ‘Oh, this is so painful’. Then I kept thinking, ‘[Hayley Williams] does this whole one-hour set in front of all these people?’ She’s so seasoned at this point she’s already a legend, but in a few years I think people will really recognise her as that.

“You know how Eminem is a legend? I truly believe Hayley is going to be like one of those people. When I saw Paramore when I was 15, someone did the exact same thing and went up [on-stage] during ‘Misery Business’. I remember looking at them and thinking, ‘Wow, that’s so fun’’. Then I did it! Truly incredible.”

PinkPantheress released a three-track EP, ‘Take Me Home’, in December. She also recently guested on Skrillex‘s recent song ‘Way Back’ alongside Trippie Redd.

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