Schoolgirl Kirstie McLean has taken the brave step of speaking out about her battle with anorexia as she prepares to take part in the Miss Cardiff contest
Recovering anorexic Kirstie McLean was practically housebound a year ago. But her dream of entering a beauty competition has helped in her fight back to health, writes Cathy Owen.
The 17-year-old, from Rumney, Cardiff, knew that she couldn’t be “too skinny” for the Miss Cardiff semi-final interviews. It was the push she needed to help her put back on the weight she so needed. And she has taken the brave step of talking about her battle publicly in the hope of helping other young girls in a similar situation.
The sixth form student’s weight had plummeted to just over five stone last year, which had given her 5ft 5ins frame a skeletal appearance. It was photographs of Kirstie and her friends that started her to diet in the first place.
“It was back in 2008 when the problem first started,” explains Kirstie, who competes in the final of Miss Cardiff on Friday night. “I was looking at photos of me and my friends and thought I just looked fatter than them all.
“I had put on a bit of weight and was between a size 10 and 12. I didn’t like it and decided to do something about it.
“I started skipping my lunch at school. My plan was that when I’d lost the weight, I’d start eating properly again. I thought I knew what I was doing.”
Kirstie’s weight began to drop, but she didn’t return to eating properly as she had planned.
“At home, I’d have a Ryvita with jam for breakfast and then really small portions for tea,” she explains.“Sometimes it might only have been a sandwich. I just drank lots of cups of tea to fill myself up.
“My periods stopped and my mum grew increasingly concerned. But I kept if from my family.
“My nan used to ask me if I was on a diet and I would say that I wasn’t.
“In April, 2009, my mum took me to the doctors. In fact we went twice. Both times, they asked me if I was pregnant. I knew I couldn’t be, so they just told me to start eating properly.
“I don’t think they had any idea that I had a problem.
“At that point, I didn’t look at it as a problem either. I just thought I was doing what I could to stay slim.”
Kirstie had been a very sporty teen and was an active member of a netball team and Cyncoed Ladies football team. In the end, it was her football coach who made her face up to her problem.
The coach pulled her aside and said: “Kirstie, do you want to close your eyes, put your hands over your ears and admit to me that you have a problem?”
“That was the turning point,” she says. “I had ignored all the comments and concerns before that, but for my football coach to take me aside after a game, came as quite a shock. “Thank goodness, because that is what I needed.”
Kirstie was then referred to the CAMHS team at St David’s Hospital in Cardiff, which deals with young people with eating disorders, where she has since undergone treatment.
“My friends kept telling me that I should try modelling, and I’ve always been interested in the idea of Miss Wales and that was one of the reasons I knew I had to get better,” says Kirstie, who lives with her parents, two brothers and a sister.
“I try to put on a kilo every week. I knew that being anorexic wouldn’t make me a great role model for other girls.”
At her lowest ebb, Kirstie was wearing clothes for 11-year-old children. She had to stop sport and even limited her time at school.
“Around last Christmas, life had pretty much stopped for me,” she says. “I couldn’t do the sport I had always loved. “I just remember sitting at home knitting a Christmas tree for a school competition while all my friends were out having fun. I knew I had to get my old life back.”
She is now in the process of recovering from anorexia. Kirstie has gained around 11kg and is wearing clothes size 6 to size 8, but is still under the supervision of St David’s nurses. She follows set meal plans and is optimistic that she will be discharged from the nurses’ care shortly.
Kirstie is back at sixth form college full time and is pursuing A levels in sociology, health and social care, and religious education. She hopes to become either a teacher or community nurse in the future.
Paula Abbandonato, head of Vibe, which organises Miss Cardiff and Miss Wales, said: “Kirstie’s story is distressing, but we are pleased that she is on the road to recovery.
“I hope other young girls who think that being really thin is the only way forward in the beauty and fashion industry take note of her experience. Being beautiful is not about size zero, and that’s why we welcome all shapes and sizes at Miss Wales.”
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