'RHOBH' Star Crystal Kung Minkoff Bravely Details Her Past Struggle With Bulimia, Says She No Longer Suffers 'Daily'
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills newcomer Crystal Kung Minkoff bravely detailed her past struggles with disordered eating on the most recent episode of the hit Bravo series.
The first Asian-American cast member on RHOBH revealed to her pals and castmates Lisa Rinna, Dorit Kemsley, Sutton Stracke, Kathy Hilton and Kyle Richards that she used to suffer from bulimia.
“I’m a recovering bulimic,” she told the ladies at Richards’ election-night party. “And I say recovering because I don’t know what it’s like to be any other thing.”
The co-founder of Real Coco — a coconut-based food and beverage company — detailed that she began her struggles with eating and how she felt about her body when she was just 11. She explained that her disordered eating is now “under control” and she no longer suffers “daily” because of it.
The 35-year-old dished in a confessional on the Wednesday, June 16, episode that her longtime battle with bulimia began after a video she was shown about eating disorders while in school; she recalled picking “up tools from it.”
She acknowledged that her bulimia was at its worst at the end of high school and her early college years, which helped her be able to hide her struggles from her parents.
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Later in the episode, Kung Minkoff’s husband, prolific filmmaker Rob Minkoff, told his wife that he was shocked that she had been so open and honest with the ladies about her bulimia because she “likes food.” The Bravo star replied, “I love food, and I always wanted to say I loved it. And that was really hard… I couldn’t admit liking food because I had so much shame around food.”
Kung Minkoff went on to explain that her body image issues were deep rooted in her childhood, and how she dreamt of being someone different. “I had always felt like the chubby one — wanting to be blonde, blue-eyed and skinny. I totally wanted to be American, and what that meant to me as a child was white,” she said, according to Page Six.
The reality TV couple, who tied the knot in 2007, also discussed how they talk about their bodies in front of their young daughter, Zoe. Kung Minkoff said that whenever Zoe says she has skinny legs, she reminds Zoe that they’re healthy because she works out and takes care of her body.
“It’s so much work to, like, get her to not use those terms,” she said. The duo also share son Max.
Following her revelation, fans stormed social media to praise the reality star on being so "brave." One user called her "one of the most open and honest new housewives we've had in years!"
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
