The Aussie model was just 15 when she developed an "unhealthy" relationship with her body, she says. Photo / @rachael_finch
For the first time, Rachael Finch has opened up about how she recovered from an eating disorder during her early days of modelling.
The former Miss Universe said it was when someone told her she would be "perfect" for the runway if she lost 5kg that her body issues began.
"I just took that to heart," Finch told Women's Health magazine.
The Aussie model and Kissed Earth co-founder was 15 when she established an unhealthy relationship with her body, describing it as a "rollercoaster journey".
"I went through a very unhealthy stage where I was overexercising; I was under-eating. I was internalising that I was way too heavy and way too big," Finch told the publication.
Alarm bells started to ring when the then teen was going to bed at 7pm and waking up at 7am.
While 12 hours of sleep may sound like a dream, it was actually a warning sign that something was dangerously wrong.
"I was still waking tired. I lost my menstrual cycle for over two years. I look back now and I think, 'Well, of course [my cycle] wasn't happening. My body wasn't functioning the way it needed to. It wasn't being given what it needed.'"
Despite already weighing only 57-58kg at the time, Finch dropped to about 52kg, describing herself as "so light" and "eating so little".
She also felt the pressure of getting breast implants – which she did at 17 – to "balance out her body".
Since that time, over the past 10 years, the 34-year-old has been working on establishing a better relationship with her body, including having her implants removed in 2021.
The mum-of-two told Body + Soul she has been in a better place since having surgery to remove the implants.
"I feel the most content, comfortable and happy that I've felt in my whole life," she told the publication earlier this year.
"I feel like I'm truly myself. I'm not in any other skin than my own, and that's a really empowering sensation."
The model, who appears on the cover of the July issue of Women's Health, told the magazine the turning point that helped transform her view was a conversation she had with her husband Michael Miziner.
He said that he loves her for her, and not the way she looks. Finch said it prompted her self discovery.
She discovered the benefits of yoga and meditating and said when she started to answer questions like, 'What is my self worth?' 'Who am I as a person? and 'What do I really believe in?' her whole attitude towards life, food and movement completely changed.
There's also a reason she never posts her "daily exercises" and instead words it as "daily movement" – because she doesn't feel it should "be this hardcore, smashing yourself, harsh, strict, daily practice".
Finch opened up about her personal journey to help break the stigma around eating disorders and encourage others to seek help.
In a recent Instagram post, the wellness influencer said that at one point "it was all about counting calories, restrictive portions and excessive training". And while it's "not all perfect now", she said she feels "a thousand times better than what it was".
She said it comes down to a few things including education around holistic health, bio-individuality and tapping into intuition.
"It's taken years of inner self work to learn how to live in absolute abundance and appreciation and every day there's still new lessons popping up," Finch said in a separate post alongside her Women's Health cover.
Second-hand clothing can be a reservoir for many potentially dangerous microbes.