24-Year-Old Instagram Influencer Who Hadn’t Eaten In Two Days Dies Of Anorexia. She Had Documented Her Struggles On Social Media
Mental health illness is something that still has stigma around it and no one really wants to discuss it. Even the most common mental health issues like depression and bipolar disorder don’t get the spotlight they deserve, let alone eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. A lot of celebrities also struggle with these issues but the condition is often brushed off, the focus is to maintain their weight and look skinny on camera. However, this is more serious than it looks and even life-threatening. Why I am talking about this eating disorder is because an Instagram influencer who was vocal about her battle with anorexia died of the disease.
The 24-year-old social media star Josi Maria documented her life and struggle with anorexia on her account everyday through pictures. In one of such posts, she wrote, “The reason I am posting this picture is because I am on a journey and I want you to join me. I want to share my thoughts, and show that I am actively fighting anorexia. I also want to say, that we should not hide ourselves away no matter what psychological illnesses we have.” She shared her disheartening fight with anorexia with positivity and hopefulness. “And I want to say to everybody who doubts themselves that you are all wonderful, and be yourself and don’t try and change. Follow your dreams, fight hard, and you will see the rewards,” she added.
She was on a holiday to Gran Canaria with her friends and died in her sleep soon after the flight because she hadn’t eaten in two days. She died of heart failure while in her friend’s arms. Josi had 138000 followers on her Instagram with who she shared her fight with the mental disorder. A few days before her death she posted about her fears for losing her life to anorexia, “I don’t want to be one in 10 who die from anorexia,” referring to the stats about the number of lives the disease claims.
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The friend who was with Josi in her last moments revealed how she succumbed to her mental illness as soon as they reached their holiday destination. Vanja Resova, also a German influencer said she had only had two cups of coffee before their flight and hadn’t eaten anything else since two days. She told Bild, “Josi asked if I could give her a brief hug and lie down with her for a moment. I then did that in the hope that she would eat something. I fell asleep shortly after her. When I woke up shortly after midnight, I noticed that she was no longer breathing. I tried to wake her up. When it didn’t work out, I went down to reception to get help.”
Anorexia is a serious psychological eating disorder which causes the person suffering from it to obsess about their weight. They tend to eat way less and constantly worry about putting on weight. The result is they become dangerously underweight and go days without eating. This mental health issue is potentially fatal in most cases. According to statistics, 10 percent of anorexic people don’t live more than 10 years after developing the disease. Josi too has been suffering from it since childhood but it began to affect her life severely since the past few years. However, she remained positive throughout and lived her life with hope. She even stopped posting about her calories and food intake on Instagram and decided to focus on her health in August. It’s sad how mental illnesses like these aren’t taken seriously and are considered a taboo or an attention-seeking gig. They need to be talked about more and deserve more attention.
