Emma Thompson and Greg Wise’s daughter Gaia details anorexia battle and devastating family intervention that ‘saved’ her life

Emma Thompson and Greg Wise’s daughter Gaia opened up about battling an eating disorder (Picture: Getty)

Emma Thompson and Greg Wise’s daughter, Gaia Wise, has opened up about her battle with anorexia, and the ‘life saving’ intervention from her loved ones.

The 21-year-old detailed her eating disorder and obsession with exercising, explaining that she was unable to sit on a chair without feeling pain when she was a teenager.

Her three-year illness began when she was 16, and she said was triggered by her aunt Clare being diagnosed with cancer. 

At one point, the budding actress hid food in her clothes and scattered it in the garden, and lied about how much she was working out.

Gaia was sent to rehab soon after, when her body shut down.

Speaking in her first interview on her struggle, she recalled the moment her parents gathered those closest to her for an intervention, with the Strictly Come Dancing star saying: ‘I don’t know where my child is any more’.

Gaia recalled an intervention from her loved ones (Picture: WireImage)

Gaia credits therapy sessions and family counselling for ‘saving’ her life (Picture: Getty)

‘I had to listen to the ­people I loved most in the world who, at the time, I’d really forgotten about, tell me what I was doing,’ she told the Sun on Sunday. ‘I sat on the stone edge of our fireplace because I was so bony I couldn’t sit on chairs properly.

‘Mum used to call me her “little mole” back then because I was covered in this downy hair the body makes to protect itself. I was constantly cold.

‘When you’re suffering from anorexia you don’t have emotions. You feel ­nothing, no pain, no anger, no ­discomfort. That’s why it’s such a powerful coping mechanism.

Gaia went into rehab late in December, 2017, and stayed in a facility for three months.

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After leaving, she underwent ‘a lot’ of therapy and family counselling sessions, something she credits for saving her life and her relationship with her loved ones.

‘I had to look at everything I was doing to my family, my relationships. We had family therapy ­sessions with a lot of crying and screaming. The fights we had…,’ she added to the publication. ‘But those sessions are the reason I still have a relationship with my family.’ 

Gaia has now been in recovery for almost two years, and is hoping to use her experience to help others in similar positions.

Along with her mum, the star will be filming a video for YouTube page SORTEDfood for Beat, to raise money and awareness for eating disorders.

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