A Real Estate Wars Agent Hid Her Eating Disorder for Decades

Hoda Hajirnia is the picture of beauty, confidence, and talent on Real Estate Wars. But the luxury real estate broker's life has been far from a California dream. 

Hoda opened up about her struggles with an eating disorder, which spanned decades, during a recent interview on Megyn Kelly TODAY. The Real Estate Wars agent shared that she has struggled with anorexia and bulimia in the past. 

Hoda told Megyn Kelly that she had been bullied for her facial features in elementary school, which caused her to become depressed and not eat lunch at school. Once her parents found out about it, Hoda said she was fine, until her mom suffered from some health issues while she was in high school. "I didn't know how to deal with it. My parents didn't know what was going on. My dad was taking my mom to see doctors and get testing done, and the only thing that I felt I had control over was what I was putting into my body, which was food," she said. "So I felt useless to the family. I couldn't help with driving my mom here and there. I wasn't old enough to work a full-time job. I was in high school, so I couldn't support them in any way." 

At one point, Hoda got down to 87 pounds, she told PEOPLE earlier this month. "I didn't see what everybody was seeing. I didn't realize how thin I was. Like when I see just skin and bones, which is what I got to, I felt like I was normal or that I was overweight at such low weight, and I was so fragile, my bones were exposed," Hoda shared on Megyn Kelly TODAY. "Like if I was going to high school in any of my classes, like just sitting on those seats it would hurt so much that I would have to wear layers, like two layers of leggings and sweatpants and then another pair of sweatpants."

At the end of Hoda's senior year, she went from anorexia to bulimia, binging on thousands of calories in one sitting and purging multiple times a day. Hoda said she "had lost so much hair" and her teeth "were so brittle" during this time. Seeing the toll her eating disorder had taken on her body ultimately helped Hoda break the cycle. "It disgusts me today thinking about it," Hoda said. 

Hoda shared that she hopes others can find comfort and strength from her story. "I was hesitant to come out, I was nervous, I was worried about how people who don't know me may think. But I've gotten a lot of great response, and a lot of messages from everybody from high school. Those people actually saw it, and it's real. It's very real. Those photos you can see that I was suffering. So it's been great," she shared. "My goal, honestly, is to give hope and faith to anybody that is struggling with an eating disorder and let them know that if they don't see the light at the end of the tunnel, it may be a very small, small light at the very distance of the tunnel, far, far away, that they too can overcome this disorder." 

If you or someone you love needs help, you can find more information at TODAY.com/MegynToday. 

You can catch more of Hoda on Real Estate Wars on Thursdays at 10/9c.

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