The tennis legend hopes to “quiet the voices” that influence her thoughts about food.
Trailblazing tennis legend Billie Jean King has never shied away from a challenge, and she recently shared up-close-and-personal insights about her struggle with food in a revealing new interview.
“I have an eating disorder. I’m a binge eater,” King told Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a conversation for her podcast Wiser Than Me, a production of Lemonada Media. “Every morning I wake up, I tell myself, ‘I have an eating disorder.’ I still go to therapy. I still think about it.”
As we know, King is far from alone in navigating the tricky intersection of diet and mental health. Disordered eating is an all-too-common trend for millions of Americans, including everyone from members of the fashion industry to our very own Katie Couric. And in the full interview with Louis-Dreyfus, which you can stream below, King is up-front about how this struggle manifests for her.
“With an eating disorder, I have two voices in my head sometimes that argue. It’s two sides,” she explained. “Let’s say I want a quart of ice cream. One side will say, ‘Yeah, baby, I’m going to have that ice cream no matter what!’ And the other side says, ‘No, don’t do that. It’s not healthy, you know you don’t need it.’”
She described this internal debate as “exhausting and tiring,” but she added that things are looking up, thanks to the treatment possibilities of the weight loss drug Ozempic. This type of medication is becoming increasingly normalized, with celebrities like Oprah Winfrey publicly sharing that they’ve decided to use it, and King says she’s particularly interested in the drug’s ability to “quiet the voices” that agonize her about what she’s eating.
King said she’s “taken a few injections” of Ozempic already, and she was primarily motivated to do so by her doctor’s advice – but she’s also watching closely to see what the effects will be like.
“With the new injections, the Ozempics of the world, it’s very interesting because my doctor wants me to try it. I don’t want to lose weight fast because I think it looks horrible. I don’t think it’s healthy. I would like to lose it slowly,” King shared.
Her relationship with food isn’t the only thing that worries the sports icon about her well-being. King, who turned 80 last year, also told Louis-Dreyfus that she fears a future of cognitive decline. (And, honestly, who doesn’t?) But the good news is that despite all these anxieties, she’s also feeling better than ever in the most important ways.
“[Aging] is tough physically, there’s no question, and also for your mind. I don’t want to get dementia, for instance. I’m scared of that because my parents had it,” King said. “But I’ll tell you what’s really been fantastic — emotionally, I am so happy compared to my young days. I’ve worked at it through therapy, through thinking, through just going through tough times. But I just emotionally am in such a great place now.”
