Comedian Jack Whitehall has revealed that he suffered from bulimia early on in his career.
The stand up and TV host, 36, makes the confession in the new Disney+ documentary, Flintoff, which charts the life of cricketer-turned-TV star Freddie Flintoff.
Freddie himself suffered eating disorders during his cricket career.
And pal Jack says: “I was bulimic when I first started doing television, it’s not something that I’ve ever really spoken about. But I remember that pressure of being on television.
“And it’s not something that I’ve seen other men or people in the media talk about, until Fred came out and spoke about it. I just remember thinking that was incredibly brave of him.”
Freddie made a documentary for the BBC called Freddie Flintoff: Living with Bulimia, in 2020 which saw him reveal the depths of his issues when playing.
A lot of media focus was put on his weight when he broke into the England team and so he began making himself sick to help lose weight and then found he couldn’t stop himself doing it.
Looking back at the 2005 Ashes where he was a huge success he was still secretly suffering.
Freddie said: “The first Test of that series, I was being sick. Everyone is talking about how well you’re doing, and there’s part of you that thinks, ‘it’s working, let’s just crack on with it’.”
Jack also says he was initially intimidated by Freddie when they met on sports quiz show League Of Their Own but they struck up a close friendship.
“Many people think of him as so strong and so alpha but he’s definitely fragile,” said Jack.
At the end of the doc as the credits roll, Jack also hints that Freddie is almost back to his old self after his horrific Top Gear crash because of one unusual reason.
Asked by someone off camera what he would like to say to Freddie, he replies: “Answer my text!He’s terrible for that.
“But I spoke to Steve Harmison the other day, and Steve said, like the most worrying moment about post the injury is that whenever you message Fred, he would message back straight away, and that’s when we knew something was wrong.
“And recently, he stopped returning people’s texts, and everyone’s gone ‘We’ve got Fred back’.”
* Flintoff Premieres on Disney+ on Friday (April 25).
For help and support on eating disorders contact Beat Eating Disorders on 0808 801 0677.
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