Anorexic Mum Wears The Same Clothes As Her Seven-Year-Old Daughter

Anorexic Mum Wears The Same Clothes As Her Seven-Year-Old Daughter

Standing side-by-side in matching outfits, you'd be forgiven for mistaking Rebecca and Maisy Jones as sisters.

But, in fact, this is a picture of a 26-year-old woman and her seven-year-old daughter.

After suffering from anorexia half her life, Rebecca's tiny frame fits easily into clothes designed for seven to eight year olds. Weighing just five stone, the young mother weighs less than her daughter, despite standing eight inches taller.

"Wearing the same clothes as Maisy gives me a sense of pride. It's wrong, but it makes me feel good. I don't think I'm thin - I always see myself as bigger," Rebecca told Closer magazine.

Living on a diet of cup-a-soups, toast and fizzy drinks, Rebecca's anorexia stems from being bullied at school, where she ballooned to 15 stone following her parents' divorce. When she hit 13, Rebecca "pretty much stopped eating" and within two years, she weighed a mere 7st.

"People stopped bullying me and started complimenting me on my size 10 figure. Mum just thought I'd lost my puppy fat. I was happier," explained Rebecca.

Rebecca become so thin, her periods stopped when she weighed 6st, and it was around this time that she met Maisy's dad at the age of 18.

A year after they met, Rebecca discovered that she was 26 weeks pregnant. "I thought it was wind but then my boyfriend felt a kick. I had no idea. I was still a size six and hadn't put any weight on and my stomach was flat," said Rebecca.

The surprised mum-to-be survived on a diet of bread and beetroot during her pregnancy and gained 7lb. However, as soon as Maisy was born, Rebecca went on a strict liquid diet and shrunk to a minuscule 5st and it was then that she realised she could wear the same clothes as her young daughter.

"I picked up one of Maisy's skirts and it fitted perfectly," Rebecca said.

But what does her daughter think about her shrinking mum? "I've told her I have an eating disorder and she knows it's a bad thing," Rebecca said. "And if she wants chocolate, I say yes - I don't want to deny her food."

The full story of Rebecca Jones appears in this week's Closer magazine, out now.

Close