>Spices gave me bulimia

Geri Halliwell has revealed living with the other Spice Girls plunged her back into harrowing eating disorders. The singer said she felt so fat compared to Posh, Sporty, Scary and Baby she was driven to making herself sick after binge eating. She added: “I went into the Spice Girls, and I was one of the curvy ones. Living with other girls you are going to compare a bit.

“When you are in your disease it’s very sneaky. I didn’t want to share that I was going back to my hotel room and bingeing on cakes. It wasn’t something I was very proud of.”

Geri, 31, linked that phase of her bulimia and anorexia to the Spice Girls as she talked to 200 health experts at prestigious Harvard University in America. She nervously chewed her nails as she shared her ordeal in her 15 minutes on the podium. Geri added she was also driven to binge by her nickname, Podge Spice.

The singer, who has made £14million from the band and her solo career, said she first became bulimic after sharing a flat with a “very thin” woman in Spain as she was trying for a break into showbiz. She said: “It triggered me into getting obsessive.”

Geri showed the audience the famous curvy pic of her in a Union Jack dress — and then at her thinnest as the pressure told. The star, who had rehab for her weight three years ago, said of bulimia: “For a time it helped me do what I had to do. You blame everything on your body.”

Geri is to star in an episode of Five’s fly-on-the-wall documentary At Home With... to be screened in the summer.

source: the sun

>Geri's second documentary

After a fierce bidding war, Channel 5 have landed the rights to Geri Halliwell's second fly-on-the-wall documentary. The Osbournes-style TV show - working title At Home With Geri - will be broadcast this summer. As we revealed earlier this month, the one-off show will explore the former Spice Girl's life in London and LA and will coincide with the release of her new album. Unlike with her last documentary, Geri - who last night gave a talk on eating disorders at Havard University in Boston - is in control of the production. What a shame it's just one show...

source: 3am

>Geri speaks up

Geri Halliwell, formerly known as Ginger Spice of the 1990s Britband sensation the Spice Girls, last night joined the 2003 Miss America and a child psychiatrist at the Harvard Eating Disorders Center’s annual forum to discuss body image, eating disorders and the public gaze.

“This is not about fat, it’s about fear,” Halliwell said at the forum at the Gutman Conference Center at the Graduate School of Education, entitled “Image: From the Inside Looking Out.”

Halliwell said eating disorders were not merely an issue of weight, but of self-perception. “A pat on the back is six inches away from a stick up the arse,” she said, describing how self-congratulation after morning weigh-ins was nothing but a “dangerous cycle of self-validation.”

Erika Harold, Miss America 2003, and Rebecca Knapp, assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, also spoke frankly on grappling with eating disorders and self-image issues.

“I don’t have any answers about the issue of body image, only experience,” Halliwell said as preface to her speech. “I’ve had all three [eating disorders]—anorexia, bulimia and overeating.” At the beginning of her speech, Halliwell promised “scary and honest confessions.”

She delivered by admitting with shame that her 10-year smoking habit, which she kicked only last year, was founded on a belief that cigarette consumption would suppress her appetite.

She also said that at the height of her Spice Girls slimness, she would “feel superior to bigger girls,” and that the “shady dancing and modeling” she did in her later teenage years made her realize “the power of the body—a power that could sometimes be destructive.”

Although Halliwell dismissed the media as prime culprit of the eating disorder epidemic among young girls, saying that “I’m the first to pick up a gossip magazine, so I’m not going to judge anyone,” the other speakers were not so quick to exonerate magazines and other news outlets.

Knapp, who spoke of her sister’s 10-year struggle with anorexia, drew a direct causal link. “The media tells us the female body is flawed,” she said, pointing to a passage in her sister’s memoir, “Appetites: Why Women Want,” which describes the author’s reaction to a post-pregnancy Elle Macpherson on a Shape magazine cover as akin to “goddess worship.” “Magazines tell us, ‘Thou shalt feel shitty about ourselves,’”

Knapp said to laughter in an otherwise sobering recollection of a disease that “rendered my sister voiceless.” Harold, who focused on the way she said she has tried to present a positive image of womanhood in the media following her crowning as Miss America, echoed Knapp’s emphasis on image. She said she took conscious steps in her public presentations to influence positively the way the members of her audiences think about themselves. She described how she always tries to eat at ceremonial luncheons so that success will not be equated with starvation.

“I say to girls I meet, if you want me to help you with a college application, great. But if you want me to show you how to use mascara, forget it,” Harold said. “Beauty has to be backed up with something more substantial.”

Whether concerned with the detrimental effects of the media or mascara, all three speakers returned finally to the theme of eating disorder as cipher for more deeply-rooted emotional issues.

Knapp spoke of her sister’s hunger as an “agent of denial” for family love she felt was withheld in childhood, while Harold said her multi-ethnic background led to painful schoolyard taunts.

Halliwell, who dismissed a question from the audience which alluded to her allegedly tumultuous relationship with the other Spice Girls as a possible catalyst for her eating problems, said, “It’s so easy to blame somebody. But ultimately I realized the self-loathing driving my image issues was really just pride in reverse.”

The forum was co-sponsored by the Eating Concerns Hotline and Outreach at the College, the Graduate School of Education and the Office of the Dean of Students at the Law School.

source: the harvard crimson online

>Geri gets dream TV break

Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell is to get her dream TV break - playing a lesbian. Thirty-something Geri has been given her chance in hit US sitcom Will & Grace, according to the Daily Star.

The singer will play the role of one of Grace's old friends who causes problems when her gay pal Will grows jealous of their friendship. But Geri's character - also called Grace - calms his fears when she reveals that she is also gay. Initially scheduled to appear in two episodes of the show, bosses could extend the role if Geri's character is popular with viewers.

Geri is reported to be delighted with the opportunity, having missed out on a role in Friends spin-off Joey. Speaking to the Star, one friend said this is Geri's "dream break". Geri seems to be getting a taste for TV after a brief appearance in Sex And The City.

source: skynews

>Geri at the Harvard Eating Disorders Center's annual public forum

The Harvard Eating Disorders Center's eighth annual public forum "Image: From the Inside Looking Out" will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. at the Gutman Conference Center, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 6 Appian Way in Cambridge. The guest speakers include Geri Halliwell, pop star and actress; Erika Harold, Miss America 2003; and Dr. Rebecca Knapp, assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry, UMass Medical School. Lisa Hughes of WBZ-TV 4 News will moderate.

The Harvard Eating Disorders Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, in conjunction with the Harvard Graduate School of Education Office of Student Affairs, the Harvard Law School Dean of Students Office and the Harvard Eating Concerns Hotline and Outreach, will sponsor the annual public forum during National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

The forum serves to educate the Boston community about eating disorders and related issues as well as to promote dialogue concerning a variety of related topics such as image, self-esteem and stress. The forum is free and open to the public. The center is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to research and education. They seek to expand knowledge about eating disorders, their detection, treatment and prevention, and to share the knowledge with the community-at-large.

At the heart of the center's program is a commitment to promote the healthy development of children, women and all at risk. The center's public forum has been held for the past seven years. The event typically draws an audience of close to 500 Boston and Cambridge students, professionals and community members. The public forum serves to educate the community about eating disorders and related issues. The forum traditionally takes place during National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

This year, the forum will also be included in Harvard University's "Caring for the Community" Week. Individuals from the Harvard Medical School, the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Law School have worked in conjunction with the Harvard undergraduate community, ECHO, and with many community members and local businesses to organize this year's forum.

>Geri at the Grammy after party

Geri appeared in Los Angeles lately. Indeed, she went to the party organised by her record company EMI, which took place just after the ceremony of the Grammy Awards, on the 8th of February. Click here to see much more pictures.

source: yahoo