Tom Daley is reflecting on swimming through uncharted emotional waters, sharing a candid glimpse into the early days of his professional diving career. The former Olympic diver, now 31, recounts how the intense pressures of the sport led him to struggle with an eating disorder and body dysmorphia during his 2011 competition season.
"I realized that people within British diving were looking at me not just as a diver but as a physical specimen," Tom shared with Radio Times in an interview published on October 27th. "I was told I was overweight." Confused by the onslaught of criticism, even the gold medalist, who is married to Dustin Lance Black and shares children Robert "Robbie" Ray, 7, and 19-month-old Phoenix Rose, found himself cutting out food to try to lose weight. However, this only exacerbated his relationship with food.
"I was not fueling myself appropriately," Tom explained. "I wasn't giving myself enough calories to properly train. I used to get so hungry that I'd binge, and then when I binged, I'd feel so bad that I'd resort to bulimia for a while." Despite this personal battle, Tom continued to compete that following year, including winning his first bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. But that impressive milestone came with its own set of challenges.
"There was so much pressure," Tom recalled of his notable performance. "It was a home Olympic Games. When would I ever get another chance to dive in front of a home crowd, with all my friends and family there?" He added of the historic game, "I was also aware that the funding of British diving was resting on my shoulders because if we didn't win a medal, the funding for diving would be cut."
While Tom was proud of his achievement at the time, he felt overwhelmed since he "didn't have anyone to talk to" about his growing anxiety and eating disorder. It wasn't until he met Dustin, with whom he tied the knot in 2017 after four years of dating, that he started to focus on healing his body image struggles. "My husband has been a huge support in that," he gushed. "I think it's a big thing in the gay community, if I'm honest. Some people have very unrealistic body expectations."
