Charlie King from TOWIE shares his experience of BDD

On Monday Charlie King bravely shared his experience of Body Dysmorphic Disorder with Steph’s Packed Lunch on channel 4.

Thank you to Charlie King, from the show The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE) for raising awareness for this under-recognised condition and speaking about it with such insight and authenticity.

Charlie said: ‘It’s been quite a tough time, this last four years especially, it all came to a head… I’m addressing a lot of things and working through it.

‘If I look at the bigger picture, it started at school, I was bullied terribly and it definitely affected me… I always felt the odd one out or not very confident.’

Charlie then discussed having a cosmetic procedure on his nose which went wrong, admitting: ‘With that I started to retract back because and I was like, I don’t want to be seen… My confidence starting chipping away again and I started falling back.’

He added: ‘When we got out of that first lockdown I went to see a plastic surgeon who agreed that an improvement could be made. So when you hear that and you’re already in a vulnerable place and self-conscious, I was like “sign me up, get me in”…

‘I had surgery number one, and quite quickly after I could see it wasn’t right. The surgery didn’t go to plan.’

Thankfully, Charlie is now receiving help. He explained: ‘I’m getting help, I’ve got a great support network and I have therapy… It will be an ongoing thing… Therapy helps me to look at the bigger picture…’

Above exerts from a Daily Mail article.

Our chairman, Dr Rob Willson was also on the show to give an expert’s perspective on the condition.

Watch the full episode on catch up

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The Body Dysmorphic Disorder Foundation. Charity no. 1153753.