Pinups battle bulimia

Health: Fighting social pressure, Playboy pinups battle eating disorders

By REBECCA ZAK
Contributing Writer

Though they bared their bodies in Playboy, pinups Sia and Shane Barbi said models are not to blame for society's obsession with personal image; they, like may women, are victims of an over-emphasis on a waif-like physique.

The sisters, known as the Barbi Twins, spoke on campus Tuesday night about their battle with bulimia and anorexia as part of Body Image Awareness Week.

The twins entered the national spotlight after appearing on the cover of two issues of Playboy, both sellouts according to an August New York Post article.

"I felt like, if I was on the cover of some magazine, no one would judge me for having an eating disorder," Sia told the audience of about 40, which included camera crews from "48 Hours."

The twins said they developed their eating disorder during their days as Girl Scouts, mentioning a memory of buying nearly 20 cases of cookies to sell only to binge on them later.

Sia said that she repeatedly wished during the early days of her illness that she could "eat whatever (she) wanted and always stay thin."

The twins' eating and exercising patterns became more extreme and more dangerous while their fame increased.

"We felt out of control, like we could blimp out to 300 pounds in a dayŠwe were ashamed of ourselves," Sia said.

The twins decided that their days of starvation and exhaustive exercise were over in 1996, when Sia overdosed on nearly 100 laxatives.

Sia said the doctor told her that if she overdosed one more time, she would die.

At that point, the twins turned down Hollywood fame to recover from their debilitating disease. During the course of their recovery, the twins were inspired to spread the word about eating disorders.

Sia said that the twins wrote their book, "Dying to Be Healthy," so that other people "don't have to hit our bottom."

"Does anyone say I wanna grow up and overeat and lie and cheat and kill myself?" Sia asked.

The twins, armed with an expansive knowledge of eating disorders and nutrition, provoked the audience with several compelling statistics, including:

u 85 percent of women are on or have tried a diet

u 55 percent of eight-year-olds are starting to diet

"We're feeding this disease by selling diets," Sia said, while her sister Shane added, "it's a multi-billion dollar industry."

The centerfolds then went on to note that while the average woman in America is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds, the average model is over 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs less than 130 pounds.

"Models and stars are a size 0 right now and they're getting thinner. We can't make negative sizes," Sia said.

In keeping with recovery, the twins turned down an offer for another spot on the cover of Playboy, because "they worried it would alienate women" the New York Post reported.

Copyright 2000 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 141, No. 61 (Wednesday, November 29, 2000), beginning on page 1 and ending on page 14.