there was a recent study done in the
University College of London linking
highly for Instagram to eating disorders
but it’s not just the statistic it
happened to me me Ming bridges at 12
years old I went to Thailand chess
school I was in year 7 formed 7.3 mrs.
passed tutor group and a proud member of
Alang I remember this was the first year
my mum let me go by myself shopping with
friends although I found out later on
she was always spying at me on me
through the whole time I loved these
website games called new pets and habbo
tell I’m not really sure if they’re
still around so that’s why I mentioned
them dressing up with my sister and
making music videos and I’d always
brushed him off to school to go on MSN
to chat my friends on group chat while
trying to get my homework done so this
is a picture from the school social that
year and the theme was to just as
somebody famous so I dressed as myself
from the future because I was going to
be a rock star so this is me as a rock
meet me at 14 years old I just won a
major singing competition and was signed
to a management label for singing after
this competition I quickly learned about
all the floors I had first of all my
forehead was too big so what they were
do at photo shoots was they would take
my hair and kind of like put it across
to try and make my forehead look smaller
and make a fringe I found out that my
left side was my better side so I should
always pose with my left side for it and
they figured out that I had to extend my
legs and tiptoe to make myself look
longer and slender no matter how awkward
and made me feel I went on to make a
Christmas album that year and be the
star in a lead award-winning children’s
TV show where I cut my hair in two full
bangs to cover my forehead
I started feeling more and more isolated
from school with my newfound fame
friends that told me I had changed and I
found myself feeling not good enough at
school and not good enough at work so I
threw myself into my
work this is me at 17 I had moved from
Singapore to London and had gone there
to focus more on IB whilst I was there I
got bullied and teased a lot for my
singer status and it quickly came to
realise that I didn’t really want to be
a singer as a full-time career because
it made me feel too insecure by this
time I was also spraying my fringe to
the side by myself every single day
because I was very very insecure about
my forehead but having said that I had a
great time at school doing normal 17
year old things going partying chasing
boys crying of my friends through IB
making loads of friends etc meet Ming at
19 I’d come back to Singapore to start
my gap year and the plan was I was gonna
make some money singing and then go on
to travel my friends around the world so
that was the plan I joined a management
company and the first thing they told me
I had to do was I had to lose weight
because I was too fat so they
recommended for me to go on a two-week
diet of eating early meat which I’ve now
come to know as the Atkins diet but
later on they texted me saying maybe
that’s a bit too harsh maybe you can try
and figure out another way to diet to
lose weight so before this point I had
never ever ever thought about losing
weight I love McDonald’s I never
exercise I was naturally slim so I just
never really crossed my mind so the
first thing I did was I cut out
McDonald’s I started exercising and
naturally just by being healthier I lost
weight but by doing this I start to
become more and more focused on my body
and then I started taking an interest in
articles about superfoods nutrition how
to get abs in 10 days the perfect body
and I start to become more obsessed with
trying different diets at this point I
was eating about 1,500 calories a day I
stated as the optimal amount in
magazines but then I’d end up binging at
night like crazy and I wouldn’t
understand why cuz I thought how could I
be so hungry
at this point Instagram had just started
up and I got told to join it because it
would help my career and at first I was
posting pictures off my work my faith my
food things I was doing places I would
go but as I got more and more body
confident I started I posted a picture
of myself wearing a tight top and a
tight skirt that day I hadn’t eaten much
and I ended up having a massive binge
and as I was slumped on the kitchen
floor in the midst of my sugar coma
despair my phone started buzzing
uncontrollably and I found that I had
got onto the instagram worldwide popular
page and I was so so happy I called my
cousin up and we were both screaming
like this was the best thing that ever
happened to me from having only two
comments and a few likes I was getting
hundreds of comments and thousands of
likes saying how pretty I was how people
wanted to be just like me
how envious they were my body and I felt
such a sense of belonging and love
acceptance and achievement and overall
down to my weight from that day onwards
I promised myself I would never binge
again and I’d be more strict to myself
than ever this is me at 20 years old I
was anorexic although I myself and my
family did not believe I was anorexic we
thought that I was just extremely skinny
and I had a really weird problem with
food not in a million years that we
think is what happened to me I remember
being in a restaurant with my mum and
she was trying to get me to eat a piece
of bread and I put it my mouth and I
couldn’t swallow it and we both sat
there holding each other’s hands and
crying because we didn’t know what to do
I remember going to Topshop and trying
on a UK size full skirt and it was too
big for me I sat on the floor and looked
at myself at how disgusting I looked I
was just skin and bone and I cried
because I didn’t understand why I just
didn’t want to put on weight even though
and the thing was during this time
comments just kept flooding in on social
media telling me how amazing I looked
and just kept me going I didn’t have
room in my head for anything else but
food and my body I didn’t see friends I
formed my parents and I pushed everyone
away everyday all I think about was
counting down the seconds to my next
meal and at night I would stay awake
thinking of all the favorite foods I
wanted to eat at this point as well I
was in Taiwan being a Mandarin pop slaw
and when I was there things only got
worse
not having my period was seen as was
glorified as a sign of how skinny I was
there are articles published about my
weight plummeting to 43 kilos and I
barely had any energy to move sometimes
for dinner or like it was vegetables but
it wasn’t just my eating that was
controlled every day was planned down to
the second I would have dance classes
every day even though I felt wrote will
quit dancing on stage
I’ll have facials because your skin had
to be as white as snow and tanning was a
big no-no I would have staged classes
where I would have to pretend to sing
and they’ll just teach me how to move
around and this was daily and lastly I’d
have a lot of interview classes teaching
me all the right things to say basically
I had to be anybody but myself as a very
introverted person I thought there was
something extremely wrong with me as
they pushed me to be more and more
extroverted I had to be the funniest the
craziest the loudest the prettiest the
most adorable the cutest there was
interesting person and I wasn’t just the
singer I was an entertainer I was like
their puppet and I just was my diet did
not have the energy to do it
all I wanted was to stay home after a
long day on the couch of my cousin and
relax but instead I’d have to go out and
try and mingle with cool people and
everyone on the outside kept telling me
how enviously were and how lucky I wants
to be where I was but no one knew how
much I was suffering so this is me at 22
my body had given up allowing me to
starve and I slowly started to gain
weight I wake up every morning at 5 a.m.
to do three hours of dragonboat training
to try and stay slim but this soon
became too much for me I remember going
to Malaysia for a cover shoot for a
magazine and in the midst of having my
outfit change I could hear the guys
outside talking about how fat I was and
by this point I had only gained a few
kilos so I was still very much under
weight when the magazine came out people
called me up congratulating me saying
how happy and how proud I must be to be
on a magazine cover but all I could
think about was that I was too fat and I
wasn’t good enough try it – that I’ve
starved myself for five days only eating
a few mouthfuls of dinner I just wish I
had stabbed myself more I really thought
that I would have to diet for the rest
of my life to be accepted and so began
the cycle of starving myself for a few
days and then binging and crap and I
quickly gained 40 kilos in two years my
Instagram was then Fulda throwback her
photos because I was too embarrassed to
show people how I truly look like I
thought no one would accept me and no
one would love me for who I really was
and when I did post the photo of myself
kind of chubbier than I had been when I
was anorexic I would have comments like
what happened and are you pregnant I
remember them I remember going on
Singapore Airlines and an asteroid came
up to me and asked me if I was being
Burgesses sister I was so embarrassed I
didn’t know what to say I couldn’t tell
him that I was actually aiming bridges
because I thought he’d judge me and I
felt humiliated at that point I didn’t
want to be alive I hated myself and I
was so angry at myself I couldn’t
control my weight I didn’t see anybody I
pushed everyone out and I isolated
myself I told myself I could only go
outside again once I was good enough
when I finally did lose some weight I
published and well I released a new song
because before that I couldn’t release
any music cuz I was too out of image
after the press conference the next day
I was so happy because I got my first
full page a newspaper article about me
but it wasn’t about my music it was
about my weight with this picture on the
front which there are people I dig dug
up with my Instagram and long alongside
a picture of myself on that day I went
on detox retreats boot camps I got
certified as a holistic health
practitioner
I went to see hypnotherapist I had
acupuncture and take it from someone
who’s tried everything it doesn’t work I
was so focused on my body and the more
focus they was the more and more weight
I gained and the more depressed I was I
finally gave up and went to hospital for
eating disorders and with the help of
the with the help of a therapist I
finally managed to separate my
self-worth from my weight but it took a
lot a lot of soul-searching and a lot of
deep brainwashing this is me at 24 and I
love this photo because this is the
first birthday in five years that I did
not start myself and they got to eat all
my yummy birthday food my mom and dad
took me to a restaurant and we stopped
ourselves silly with Japanese food and
we had five desserts and we were all so
happy w doll come out on the other side
together I dyed my hair blue just
because I want to do and now surrounded
with friends who truly cared for me for
who I am
I grew up and realized what really
learned more and more about the
importance of knowing myself every day
and accepting Who I am has made the
greatest difference in my life I find
them why I knew myself the easier it is
not to get swayed by what other people
are doing or what other people think you
should be doing to think about the
amount of times I’ve gone on a diet just
because I’ve watched a documentary or
had another call instead of listening to
what my body wants or taking advice from
someone because it worked for them not
even considering if the same advice
would work for me if I could get you
guys to take away anything from today is
that there’s no point trying to be
somebody else
I wasted five years of my life trying to
be someone I wasn’t and I’m only now
trying to make up for that time but it’s
still a daily battle for me and for most
people out there the thing is media is
not just in the magazines or on TV
anymore
it’s all around us it’s in our hands it
basically is us and we’re all posting
the best of the best I need you to step
away and realize or to figure out who
you are because
who you on the screen and who yon cousin
is never the same I have so many friends
who are celebrities online they look
like they’re having the best lives ever
in real life
many are depressed have eating disorders
and no periods because they feel they
have to be this way the key is to go on
your own journey question things find
out who you are and surround yourself
with people to help you on this journey
and read read a lot I love reading books
and they really really helped me so if
anyone needs any recommendations please
do ask be inspired take advice learn but
know your intentions and know who you
are because that be another day this is
your life and you’ve got to do you I
feel truly blessed I’ve had the
opportunities I’ve had and to be able to
share them with you so in the emini you
can learn from what I’ve learned on my
journey thank you very much [Applause]