“This is something very personal and I haven’t really talked about online before,” Alix Earle tells her listeners at the start of her video. The podcaster then revealed a trigger warning surrounding eating disorders and began sharing her own personal story.

“Growing up, I never had a problem with food. That was never really a talked-about thing in my family,” says Earle. Adding, “I just kind of thought it was like, ‘eat what you want. eat what you love.’ My family was super good about that.”

Earle continued her story explaining the influence her high school friends had over her, surrounding her relationship with food. “They were paying thousands of dollars for these diets,” said Earle. “And, After watching their habits and watching them lose weight, it became more normalized for me,” she continued.

“It was a very very toxic environment when it came to girls’ relationship with food. I went from someone who had a healthy relationship with food very quickly to someone who did not,” the Unwell member revealed.

Earle got emotional as she continued sharing her story. And, she made sure to note, “This is not to blame anyone. I think everyone was going through their own issues. I think I was just picking up on bad habits.”