Actress and R&B singer Brandy Norwood has revealed that despite all the fame and fortune she experienced with the success of her music and TV sitcom Moesha during her teen years, she was harboring a very dark secret — she was suffering from an eating disorder.
Appearing on a new episode of VH1’s Behind the Music on Wednesday night, Norwood recalled:
“I wanted to be so thin. That was my main thing. So I started not taking care of myself – not eating properly, not eating at all, diet pills, regurgitating, and all of these things that girls do.”
Brandy, who released her self-titled debut album at age 15 (which went on to sell 6 million units), explained that the pressure to be a successful star caused the disorder.
“People don’t understand that being the hottest star or making the most money does not mean anything,” says Brandy, now 33. “I’m here to tell you I was making so much money — I was omnipresent — and I was the unhappiest teenager probably in the world.”
The pressure to succeed wasn’t the only factor weighing on the teen star at the time, however. Brandy also revealed she was dealing with her first heartbreak, after her relationship with Boyz II Men’s Wanya Morris ended badly in 1997.
She recalled the split:
“He fell in love with someone else. The worst feeling is to be in love all by yourself. That feels f***ed up, honestly. It just really does. And that’s the only way I can really put it.
Norwood, who is now the mother of a 9-year-old daughter with producer Robert ‘Big Bert’ Smith, added: “It felt like somebody had just completely taken my heart out of my body and just crushed it.”
Check out a clip from Behind the Music: Brandy below:
More recently, Brandy released the debut single “It All Belongs to Me” — a duet and followup to “The Boy is Mine” with Monica — in preparation for her sixth studio album “Two Eleven.”
Check out the video for Brandy and Monica’s ‘It All Belongs to Me’ below:
Two Eleven is scheduled to hit shelves in June.