Sara Evans says she has an eating disorder, admits she's 'more scared of being fat than anything in the world'
Country singer Sara Evans revealed that she has an eating disorder during a candid discussion with former "Dancing With The Stars" pro Cheryl Burke.
On Monday, Evans, 53, joined Burke on the 39-year-old dancer's podcast "Sex, Lies and Spray Tans," and the two reflected on the downsides of being in the public eye.
"With fame comes people's opinions. How do you handle all this?" Burke asked.
"It bothers me," Evans admitted. "I won't say that it doesn't. I have an eating disorder. I'm more scared of being fat than anything in the world, and that's not good. That's not normal."
The "A Little Bit Stronger" singer went on to say that she also struggles with body dysmorphia.
Body dysmorphic disorder is a mental health condition that causes people to fixate on perceived flaws or defects in their appearance that are seen as minor or not apparent to others, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The condition causes embarrassment, anxiety and shame that can lead those affected to avoid social situations and impact their ability to function in their daily lives.
Evans explained that she worries about her appearance every time that she is "on stage and being judged"
"My record label, every time I had a baby, they would be like, ‘When's she gonna lose weight?’" the mother of three said. "So things like that would just get in my head."
"I'm a people pleaser," she added. "Like, if I'm skinny and I'm pretty and I did a good show, then I'm loved."
"And I want to feel loved no matter what," Evans added.
The Missouri native recalled that she was recently reading comments on her podcast "Diving in Deep" when she came across a message left by a listener who wrote, "What happened to your face?"
"I just wanted to respond, like, ‘How dare you?’ " Evans said. "I haven't done anything to my face. I've had Botox."
"People think I have my whole face redone," she added. "I'm like, ‘Really? When did I do this?’"
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"You wanna know what happened to my face? I'm 52."
Evans previously detailed struggling with her mental health in her 2020 memoir "Born to Fly." She revealed that she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and claustrophobia stemming from being hit by a car when she was 8 years old in 1979.
Following the accident, the singer had a concussion and severe injures to her left leg that required weeks of recovery in the hospital.
"For six agonizing weeks, I remained in that hospital bed," Evans wrote. "I'd have a sudden, overwhelming feeling of pain and panic consuming me. 'I want out of this!' I’d scream, thrashing around till someone held me down and calmed me. I felt like I was being buried alive."
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"I had severe PTSD and anxiety, but it was the '80s, and I didn't have a name for it," Evans told People magazine in 2020. "I don't think my mother even thought, like, 'Maybe I should take her to therapy.' I thought I could handle it because I'm tough."
Evans wrote in her memoir that her mental health struggles were later exacerbated by her parents' divorce.
She recalled that she suffered her first panic attack in December 2005 after she "succumbed to extreme anxiety" while dealing with marital problems with her ex-husband Craig Schelske.
The former couple, who share son Avery, 24, and daughters Olivia, 21, and Audrey, 19, divorced in 2007. Evans is currently married to retired NFL player Jay Barker, whom she wed in 2008.
In her memoir, Evans wrote that a doctor eventually prescribed her an anti-anxiety medication that "saved her life."
"It calmed me down," the musician told People. "Taking it also made me realize you're not going to be this way forever. I always tell my kids, 'The toll that anxiety takes on your body and on your mind, I think, is so much worse than if you have to take [medication] to calm down.'"
Evans told that outlet that she now has a better understanding of the triggers that bring on her anxiety and PTSD.
"I still struggle," she said. "But I'm so grateful for every second of this life."