Top Model’s London: “I Had An Eating Disorder”

London Levi is no longer in the running towards becoming America’s Next Top Model - because of her weight.

The blonde beauty was an immediate stand-out, with her hippie headbands and her penchant for “speaking the word.” But unfortunately, none of that mattered when she started gaining the poundage. The 15 pounds that she gained during her time on the show (which is, what, 100 pounds in the modeling world?) was the only thing responsible for her elimination.

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But what you didn’t know as you watched the harsh judges calling her out was that London was recovering from an eating disorder. She talked to us about this surprising revelation and more. Read on for the details.

You gained quite a bit of weight on the show. Do you know the real reason?

Going into the competition I was actually recovering from an eating disorder. While I was in the competition, you are literally in an alternate universe. You eat, sleep, and breathe America’s Next Top Model. We lived in a three-story brownstone in the dead winter of New York. We weren’t allowed to go outside so you’re confined and the only form of exercise was three flights of stairs.

I was going through a lot. It was very difficult for me. All the girls were naturally thin and tall. They were able to eat whatever they wanted and not gain a pound. I’m actually the polar opposite. My family’s from Italy and I’m naturally big boned and curvy. I would eat normally. I wouldn’t gorge or anything… but because I had an eating disorder, my metabolism didn’t work properly. I stored everything I ate therefore I gained a lot of weight.

Were Tyra and the judges aware of this?

Yes they were.

Was the eating disorder something you were prepared to discuss?

It was brought up once. Obviously it wasn’t used on the show, but it wasn’t something I was entirely comfortable with. In fact, it never would have been brought up if I hadn’t gained the weight. But it happened for a reason. When you have an eating disorder, you’re very self-conscious about it. I know with this being brought up, I’m helping people.

Is modeling going to be something you’ll pursue?

Yes it is. I’ve actually lost all the weight I gained so I’m at the weight where I would be accepted into places. Modeling is something I want to do but only on the side. Going into the competition, I had modeling as my main priority. But then God humbled me and asked me if this is really what I want to do. There’s so many other things that god has planned for my life that modeling isn’t going to be number one.

Did you keep your makeover?

Actually it’s still on my head right now! It’s a little wavy and my roots are extremely dark. I think I kind of felt like Fo where they chopped off my hair and took away my femininity, but after a while I embraced it. It’s a good change. My long hair was getting kind of stringy and nappy. I called it my hippie hair.

Were you surprised to be in the bottom two?

Jay actually told me “you got some great photos from this.” And even though he sat down to talk to me, he said I did really well on my photo shoot. I was nervous because I know the judges aren’t taking it easy on you if you gained weight in a modeling competition, but I didn’t think so until I got to panel. You can always tell who’s going to be in the bottom two from the judges reactions. But I really didn’t think I was going home.

Were you bummed you didn’t get go to Brazil?

I was! Brazil sounded really nice. I had never really seen the beach besides Galveston which I don’t think you can really consider a beach. It’s gross. But Brazil sounded beautiful… the beach, sun, laying out. Of course like any girl I was bummed!

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