Valeria Levitin, 39, developed anorexia during her teenage years, with the disorder’s beginnings linked to experiences from her childhood. She recalls that her mother regularly weighed her and limited what she could eat because she was afraid Valeria might become obese like some relatives. After moving to Chicago with her parents at 16, Valeria became increasingly focused on fitting in at school and came to believe that losing weight would help her gain acceptance. Hurtful remarks from classmates about her appearance further affected her confidence and pushed her deeper into restrictive eating.

Her ambition to become a model intensified the situation. At 23, after years of severely limiting her food intake and cutting out foods such as sugar and carbohydrates, she pursued modelling but was told she was still considered too heavy. By the age of 24, her weight had dropped to around six stone, and she was eventually prevented from taking part in ballet because of concerns about her fragile health and risk of injury. Over the next decade, she sought help from more than 30 medical specialists and, at her lowest point, weighed just 3st 10lbs. Today, many foods are difficult for her body to tolerate, and she says it has been so long since she ate bread that she can no longer remember its taste.

One of the most troubling aspects of Valeria’s experience is the attention she receives from young women who see her extremely thin appearance as something to achieve. She says she has received messages, particularly from women in their twenties, asking for advice about becoming as thin as she is. Instead of encouraging them, Valeria wants her story to demonstrate the devastating consequences of extreme dieting and anorexia. She has described her life with the illness as deeply lonely and painful and firmly refuses to teach young girls how to follow a path that could ultimately put their lives at risk.

Despite everything she has endured, Valeria remains determined to recover and hopes one day to fulfill her dream of becoming a mother. She believes that developing inner balance could be an important part of her recovery alongside professional medical care. She has considered returning to Moscow, where she feels more at ease, and has also explored the possibility of becoming a parent through surrogacy. However, she recognizes that her health must come first and that raising a child while seriously ill would not be fair to the child. Now focused on recovery, she hopes that sharing her experience will encourage others struggling with eating disorders to seek professional support and understand how dangerous extreme dieting can become.