It was sometime in her teenage years when she was signed to a modeling agency that Claire Jedrek struggled with her body. “I remember bumping in my agency boss after not seeing her for a few months and she said, ” Oh you’ve lost some weight, call me.” To be honest, being thin was a requirement and she was just seeing it from a business view, but it made me criticise what I was born with,” recalled the 38-year-old presenter, co-owner of The Film Dispensary and mother of two.
“I used to get affected by other people’s comments. I don’t think I had ever received so many comments – comments about having an hourglass body, being buck toothed, thick hands and feet and calves. I never noticed any of this until someone would point it out.
“I remember being bulimic because of anxiety. I was dating someone and his sister-in-law would gang up with her friends and bully me for no reason. That would make me feel sick to my gut walking into the same house as her. So I would get really drunk or would make myself sick. Then I also used to cut myself to stop myself feeling angry. Strange to think that I did it, but you do silly things when you’re young.”
As Claire got older, she definitely cared a lot less of other people’s opinions.
“I remember when I got older and was far more independent earning a little bit more. I had just had my heart broken and I moved back to Singapore from overseas and something changed in me. I realised how I saw the world was entirely up to me. I had a new opportunity to start life again at 30 and not everyone had that chance and I had to live life exactly as it was, with one chance.
“I honestly don’t care as much as before. I know how hard I work out, what I eat is entirely up to me and I don’t take myself too seriously. I have two young kids and if it’s one thing I want them to feel and act like children and feel uninhabited as long as possible.”
After becoming a mother, Claire is now kinder to her mental being and body because it’s done such an amazing thing by growing two kids – it’s the coolest thing ever, she added.
*This is a collaboration between Rock The Naked Truth and Our Bralette Club.
