Celebrity Traitors star Celia Imrie has opened up on receiving treatment for an eating disorder in her early teens, describing it as a “horrible time”.
The 74-year-old developed anorexia after she failed to get accepted at the Royal Ballet School.
She was admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital in Lambeth, where she received treatment from William Sargant.
The psychiatrist was the subject of the book The Sleep Room: A Very British Medical Scandal by Jon Stock, which detailed his use of electroconvulsive therapy on patients, along with antipsychotic and sedative drugs.
Remembering her treatment, Imrie told Saga magazine: “I don’t know to this day whether I had a spell in The Sleep Room or not, but I was in that ward and I remember the smell of the room.
“The smell of sleep. I can’t describe it. I mean, it was a horrible time.
“I do remember waking up one day and thinking: ‘I have to get myself out of here.’”
Imrie said at 14, a nurse challenged her by saying she was taking the bed of a “really sick child”, which motivated her to get better.
She said: “That was the best thing she could have said to me. What she said was a trigger. No, I hate using that word. It was a firework.”
Imrie also recalled the sexism she faced as a young actress in the 1970s, recalling an inappropriate remark from a male colleague who saw her wearing a T-shirt bearing the words The Best.
She said: “He gaped at my chest, licked his lips and said loudly: ‘Those are the best.’”
Imrie also discussed how she no longer flies after suffering two pulmonary embolisms, a sudden and dangerous blockage in a blood vessel in the lungs.
It left her unable to work for a time and she also struggled with her mental health until a trip to France changed things for the better.
She said: “I liken my life to a game of snakes and ladders. It’s wonderful to go up the ladders, but there are snakes around the place and they come upon you sometimes when you’re not looking.
“I was on a snake at the time… Churchill used to call it the black dog.
“The illness did lay me flat for a bit. Your body does have an aftershock. It’s quite hard to explain, but I know I was on the floor. And yes, the paradise of Nice did save my life actually.
“I went out for a baguette and came back with an apartment.
“I do believe that with these sort of things, you are the one who can get yourself out of it. With the help of the beauty of Nice, I picked myself up. It gave me that twist to get myself up again.”
For anyone struggling with the issues raised in this article, eating disorder charity Beat’s helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677. NCFED offers information, resources and counselling for those suffering from eating disorders, as well as their support networks. Visit eating-disorders.org.uk or call 0845 838 2040.
