Kate Beckinsale Comments on Anorexia

Wed, 25 April 2007 12:00:00 ET

Kate Beckinsale has likened anorexic sufferers to "crack wh**es". The 'Underworld' star, who suffered from an eating disorder when she was 15, says young girls starve themselves as a way of coping with problems at home.

She was quoted in Britain's Daily Mail newspaper as saying: "I believe anorexia, alcoholism and drug abuse in teens are more about what is happening in the home than a problem with images in the media. It is the nice girl's way of becoming a crack wh**e."

The stunning actress, who has an eight-year-old daughter Lily, recently insisted too much had been made of her own eating disorder. She said: "It was a very brief moment that was made into a big deal. I find it hard to categorise myself as having been anorexic. I just had a miserable six months. I was a nice posh girl from West London, so I probably wasn't going to become a crack addict. That's the thing you do if you're a girl who grew up in a private school."