Freddie Flintoff Living With Bulimia viewers have praised the star’s bravery as he opened up about his battle.
The cricketer turned Top Gear host, 42, opened up about the devastating illness on a BBC documentary.
Freddie Flintoff: Living with Bulimia is a brutally honest look at the illness and its effects on both Freddie and thousands of others nationwide.
Fans have responded by calling for Freddie to be knighted.
How did viewers react to Freddie Flintoff Living With Bulimia?
Viewers flocked to Twitter during its premiere on Monday night.
One viewer gushed: “Give him a knighthood. Mental health is such an important issue right now, especially for younger people who have had a turbulent last few months. Freddie has probably done a lot tonight to reduce the stigma #FreddieFlintoff.”
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Another user praised: “Big respect #FreddieFlintoff. You’re a positive role model for the 2020 man #goodtotalk.”
A third user shared: “After 10 minutes I can tell this is one of the most important programmes you will ever watch. Hard hitting, honest, emotional, and educational.”
And a fourth user praised Freddie’s honesty with: “Hats off to #FreddieFlintoff takes a lot of balls to do a show on something so personal! I’m learning a lot about bulimia and mental health.”
Meanwhile, BBC pundit Dan Walker shared that he thinks the documentary will help many struggling with the illness.
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He tweeted: “I think #FreddieFlintoff is going to help a lot of people with the documentary about bulimia. It is clearly hard for him to be so brutally honest and vulnerable but I hope it has a big impact.”
The sportsman first spoke about struggling with an eating disorder back in 2014.
What did Freddie Flintoff say?
In the documentary, Freddie revealed that he hid his struggles with the illness for years.
He says in the early start of his international cricket career, fans and the press mocked him for his weight.
This sparked him to begin forcing himself to be sick. He went into graphic detail on how he would eat and then purge.
Freddie said: “I became known as a fat cricketer. That was horrible. That was when I started doing it.
Thankyou for the amazing response to tonight’s doc , hopefully we’ve helped raise awareness of such an important subject ❤️
— Andrew Flintoff (@flintoff11) September 28, 2020
“That was when I started being sick after meals. Then things started happening for me as a player.”
But as the weight came off, he felt fans were kinder to him. His career also skyrocketed.
At the time, he believed his bulimia was helping him to succeed.
Continuing, he said: “Everyone was happy with me.
“My weight was coming down. It was like: ‘I’m bossing this.’ It just carried on and I was doing it all the time.”
He goes on to explore professional help options, and talked with others suffering from the same condition.
*If you are struggling with bulimia, charity ABC (Anorexia and Bulimia Care) offers confidential help.
They can be reached at 03000 11 12 13.
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