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Jules Wainstein Is Glad She Revealed Her Eating Disorder on RHONY: "Secrets Keep You Sick"
Years later, The Real Housewives of New York City alum still has "no regrets" about opening up about her struggle with an eating disorder.
There are a few things that Jules Wainstein would like to have done differently during her time on The Real Housewives of New York City, but she has "no regrets" about being open and honest about her struggles with an eating disorder. Jules looked back on her time as a Real Housewife and chatted about what she's up to now for Bravo’s Life After Bravo — including how she's doing now 17 years into her recovery from anorexia and bulimia.
"I have no regrets talking about my eating disorder on the show," Jules says in the video. "Eating disorders are a very secretive disease. I thought it’d be really healthy and a big part of my recovery if I did speak about it. I always say, secrets keep you sick. By speaking about it, then, I could do the opposite. It was one of the biggest moments of my recovery."
In fact, her story inspired viewers who were fighting their own battles, according to Jules.
"I received thousands of letters, DMs, Facebook [messages], and tweets — all from strangers — about how much I’ve helped them in their recovery," she says. "I would get letters from fans that would say, ‘You were that light switch.’ Or, ‘I just needed somebody that gave me hope."
In the moment, however, Jules thinks her recovery might have been misunderstood. "It's OK to say that I had, I'll call it an episode, a binge and purge moment. I feel like the girls on the show didn’t understand that. They were giving me a hard time." She adds, “They were like, '[Gasp] You’re so sick!' I’m like, ‘No! That’s so amazing of me to tell you that, because someone who is sick won’t tell you that because they’re sick.'"
Today, Jules says she is doing great and that she continues to grow and get better every day. “I would love to show people that in my recovery, life is normal,” she says. “I don’t think about food. [I’m not] all day, all night, in therapy, suffering from an eating disorder. I live my life like everybody else.”
She adds, "It was just so amazing that my one season, I gave someone that hope. It was so worth it. It was everything."
