Young Wallabies superstar David Pocock has revealed in a new autobiography that he has suffered from an eating disorder for much of the past decade.
Pocock, who was one of the few Wallabies players to enhance his reputation at the recent Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, said he developed the problem when he was a teenager, around the time that his family moved to Australia from Zimbabwe.
The openside flanker is up-front about the extent to which the eating disorder affected him.
“I was irrationally strict about what I ate and had a very skewed idea of my body image and what I looked like,” he said.
“Looking back at photos I was ridiculously lean but in my head I was still not lean enough. I remember bursting into tears a few times when the family went out to dinner or when travelling and there weren’t any healthy or ultra low-fat options to eat.
“I was unsure about how to deal with my obvious anxiety towards food.”
Pocock admitted that the move from Zimbabwe, brought about by his family being forcibly evicted from their farm, may have played a part in the disorder materialising.
“This was possibly a response to the fear I experienced living in Zimbabwe for those last few years on the farm when I felt so powerless, and when we moved to Australia I used it as a way to give myself a sense of control and certainty. I’ve worked on this a lot with the psychologist.”
The irony is that the 23-year-old is regarded as one of the top physical specimens in the game, even earning the nickname ‘Bam Bam’ from teammates due to his muscle-bound physique.
Pocock’s autobiography, Openside: My Journey to the Rugby World Cup, covers his life both on and off the field, especially his work with the charity he helped set up, Eightytwenty Vision.
He confirmed that all proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to charities through his website, heroesboots.com
by Buford Balony
