Delphine suffers from anorexia nervosa during her childhood. “It got worse and worse,” she tells presenter Peter Van de Veire in the radio program. “As a teenager I developed anorexia. I couldn’t handle the chaos around me, and the only thing I could control was my diet. So I chose to stop eating. I didn’t know what was happening with me because I had never heard the word anorexia,” she admits.
When the princess is fifteen years old, she reaches a low point when her organs fail. “I almost died then,” she recalls. Because this is no longer possible, the doctors want to admit Delphine, who weighs only 28 kilos at the time, to the hospital. According to her psychologist, however, this is not the right solution and she therefore suggests relying on the willpower of the princess.
Step by step things get better and thanks to the art academy, Delphine finally manages to get her life back. “The day I started there, I got better because I got the chance to express myself through art,” she says. “That’s why I believe in art so much now. You can express yourself in another language.”
Delphine has a tip for people who suffer from an eating disorder: “Do something artistic such as painting, dancing, singing or writing. Or start a team sport. Then you feel important and get out of that bubble of isolation and loneliness. “
