Emmerdale’s Rosie Bentham: Gabby’s pathological obsession proves we need to take orthorexia seriously

Rosie Bentham has done her research into Gabby’s traumatic situation (Picture: ITV) Having battled into a state of semi-recovery from an eating disorder after 18 years, I thought I knew more than most. But when Emmerdale launched a storyline focused on Gabby Thomas, who has developed orthorexia, I was both perplexed and intrigued – I had never before heard this term and was interested to see how the writers and actress Rosie Bentham would play this out. The reason you may not have heard of it is that, for now, it isn’t recognised clinically as an eating disorder – even though it undoubtedly should be. In fact, staggeringly, it affects more people in the UK than both anorexia and bulimia combined. Rosie has clearly done her research into the topic – a condition in which, as the actress describes it, sufferers develop a pathological obsession with eating what they deem only ‘pure’ foods. We have been seeing this manifest in Gabby but far from it just being a bid to live a healthy lifestyle, it becomes a lack of control which puts her life on the line. We sat down together for a very insightful chat about it, Rosie addressing that she felt comfortable talking to Metro about the storyline given my own previous openness with an eating disorder journey. ‘She’s not actually fuelling herself with a balanced diet, which is what she needs. She has taken the control way too far and restricting herself from the food groups that would heal her from this. ‘Digging a little bit deeper, it’s actually because she has demonised certain food groups and been completely way too restrictive, which has meant she can’t recover properly. Then there’s the mention of antibiotics when she gets more ill, which come into the equation. Ask Metro Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about – powered by Metro and trusted publications. ‘That’s very common with people with orthorexia, who are so straight about wanting pure foods, no chemicals and no over-processed stuff. All organic. All of that stuff that is shoved down our throats on social media as being the correct way to live. “You’re going to live your longest and your best life”, optimising all of that. ‘She sees antibiotics as the complete opposite of that, so she decides not to take them which you can see as a viewer, becomes quite detrimental to her health. It takes her down a path of very, very ill health and close to death.’ It leads to Gabby suffering a panic attack after the control she is desperate for spirals out of her hands. And later she is rushed to hospital after collapsing, the lack of nutrients driving her body to the brink and leaving her fighting for her life. Gabby suffers a full blown panic attack as her obsession consumes her (Picture: ITV) It’s a stark warning that drives home the real danger of orthorexia – and the social media algorithms that are often responsible for triggering such intense fixations on what we put into our bodies. ‘This is thing with any eating disorder,’ she continued with a sigh. ‘Anorexia, bulimia, and everything. With orthorexia, it’s all about control and obsession with what you think your life is going to look like when it’s perfect. That starts with what you are fuelling you’re body with. ‘The social media algorithm sucks you in, doesn’t it? Because I am very interested in the gym and being healthy, I noticed that my algorithm was getting so extreme, and the pressure put on young people especially. ‘I was really interested in why we are scrolling down our social media page and listening to a random person with probably no qualifications in nutrition, and they’re walking down a supermarket aisle and telling us that if you eat this, this is going to happen and this chemical means this. ‘So then I looked into it a bit. I also know of people who might restrict themselves from social situations due to restrictive behaviours on what they can eat or what they should be consuming. I connected the dots. ‘There’s such a rise in this optimisation culture where people want to be the best version of themselves. I can talk about it for ages. It’s just so interesting. The misconception, which I don’t want people to get from this story, that orthorexia is not just eating healthily and when that gets bad. It’s the psychological, emotional side that comes with it.’ Gabby almost loses a fight for life as her body gets close to giving in (Picture: ITV) My chat with Rosie was insightful – and she says she could talk about the topic all day (Picture: ITV) Rosie’s passion is testament to her enthusiasm she shared with me upon hearing about the storyline from Emmerdale bosses. And, it is so very in character for someone like Gabby. As Rosie recalled, her alter-ego has had a lot of heartbreak and rejection from men, she’s lost her dad, her stepmum is a recovering alcoholic and her mum abandons her at the drop of a hat. While anyone can fall into the trap of an eating disorder, Gabby is clearly susceptible due to her self-confidence and perceptions of body image – let’s not forget that she was fixated on weight loss and crash dieting ahead of her wedding to Vinny – which, as per Gabby’s unfortunate track record, ended in disaster. Rosie continued: ‘Gabby has had a lot of heartbreak recently and rejection from men. This is why, when this story came up, I thought it was the perfect fit for her because she has dealt with grief, heartbreak, failed marriages, her mum’s not there. I picture Gabby as the kind of people who wakes up everyday and asks “what can I do today to make my life better and make sense of all this chaos around me?” ‘This is where orthorexia creeps in. You think that you’re taking control, but actually, at what point is it a complete pathological fixation that you can’t like go of? ‘If you don’t meet those expectations of yourself by your diet, it can then fall into self-destructive behaviours of feeling guilty, having horrible days where you have got to make up for the fact that maybe yesterday, you ate something you shouldn’t have eaten. ‘I felt that was a really important subject to touch on and fit Gabby’s narrative of searching for something and trying to take control as much as she can, but bless her, she hasn’t really ever had that.’ What is orthorexia? Orthorexia refers to an unhealthy obsession with eating 'pure' food. Food considered 'pure' or 'impure' varies from person to person, and this doesn't mean that anyone who diets or follows a healthy eating plan is suffering from the condition. The behaviour is used to cope with negative thoughts and feelings, or to feel in control. If someone with orthorexia was to consume food that they feel is unhealthy, they may feel anxious or guilty about it. Someone's belief about what is healthy might lead them to cutting out essential nutrients or food groups, leading to potential physical problems. Orthorexia is currently not recognised in a clinical setting as a separate eating disorder, so someone who visits the doctor with the symptoms would not be officially diagnosed with it. You can find out more information on orthorexia here. Emmerdale deserves full credit for shining a light on this but, while Rosie acknowledges that the nature of soap – which needs to be fast moving – means it can’t forever be a storyline focus, she does have the freedom to retain aspects of her performance as Gabby that show she will be forever impacted by this. While someone can be in recovery, I know only too well that it is never a cure. ‘It can always trigger you,’ she nodded during the conversation. ‘So it’s being amongst those people as well, that have been through a journey, come out if it. Yes, there’s other stories in the mean time but Gabby will probably always have the tendencies to control some aspect of her life and take charge. ‘Maybe this will change her attitude towards men, relationships, maybe she will focus on family a little bit more and realise the benefits of having a balanced life with Thomas, her child. We’ve seen her restrict him as well as her. Let’s see where it goes!’ Eventually, we will see Gabby admit what is going on and seek the help of Laurel, something which Rosie is delighted to take on with her good friend Charlotte Bellamy. And Rosie is reflective about how fans will react to seeing it play out. Rosie loves working with Charlotte Bellamy as Laurel helps Gabby through this (Picture: ITV) She mused: ‘It’s really difficult because some people watching it at the start might have been like “what’s the problem? Why are they talking about it? She’s eating healthy and exercising. This is a great thing. We should be encouraging this.” ‘Of course we should be encouraging healthy lifestyles. Everyone can benefit from eating more fruit and veg or understanding what goes into the food we’re eating. ‘How do we know the difference between healthy eating and orthorexia?’ If we check the labels of your food, fine. But how often do you check the labels of your food. But how often does that stop you? What happens if you do eat something that maybe you can’t access the food labels?. What effects does it have on you? ‘As someone who doesn’t suffer with orthorexia, I try to eat a balanced diet. But I will happily go out to a restaurant and eat whatever food is there or use whatever ingredients I have got in my cupboard and I’m not worried about that to the extent that people with orthorexia are. It doesn’t consume my whole being.’ And that’s where Gabby comes in to reflect that state of being to the audience. Like me, someone whose eating disorder demons began niggling at me from when I was a teenager, people can always stand to learn more. With the term orthorexia having only entered my vocabulary in the last month, it’s amazing how quickly Emmerdale, my research for articles, and my chat with Rosie has educated me and opened my eyes to what is more than a ‘traditional’ view of what an eating disorder is. For us all to learn more, recognise the signs and talk about it; that can only ever be a good thing. As for Gabby, time will tell where she goes from here, but Rosie is keen for her character to subtly change indefinitely because of this but, as an actress, also doesn’t want to lose what makes her character so popular. ‘She’s one of those who can slot in wherever she wants to be and either nails it, or it’s chaos. ‘I work with so many different people here. It would be sad to see the business side of Gabby leave, if that did happen. I enjoy playing those scenes and being bossy! It’s quite fun. ‘But we will have to see because recovery can look different for different people. It might be that she needs to focus on something. I reckon she will struggle to be on the catering side of business, but who knows?’ You can find out more information on orthorexia and get support by visiting Beat Eating Disorders. 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