Beauty and the Jock shared the stage Monday at the Reitz Union.
Allison Kreiger Walsh, the 2002 Miss University of Florida, and Patrick Bergstrom, a two-year academic all-conference lacrosse player at Wesley College, have both battled eating disorders.
The two spoke to an audience of about 400 at “Beauty and the Jock: Real People. Real Stories,” an event organized by Accent speakers bureau in collaboration with UF’s GatorWell, Athletic Association, Panhellenic Council, Interfraternity Council and Women’s Leadership Council.
The event kicked off National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which started on Sunday and will run until Saturday.
Bergstrom was sidelined from his lacrosse team in college due to his struggles with anorexia.
“Everybody told me that guys don’t have eating disorders, and I believed, but deep in my heart, I knew something was wrong,” Bergstrom told the audience.
He was later diagnosed with anorexia, as well as substance abuse, and was told he had 12 months to live if he didn’t have an immediate intervention.
“I chose to live,” he said. “When I was struggling with an eating disorder I wasn’t living. I was just existing.”
Walsh, a UF graduate with a degree in public relations, battled bulimia and anorexia during high school for three and a half years.
She spent her childhood and adolescence training as a competitive baton twirler. She also described herself as a straight-A perfectionist.
Walsh said the first time she threw up, she vomited because she was upset. She felt better and began associating vomiting with relief.
“I was a walking, talking example of an eating disorder,” Walsh said.
Walsh was paid $1,700 and Bergstrom was paid $2,420 to speak at the event, according to Jason Attermann, Accent chairman.
