Long time lurker of tattle but thought I would break my silence to articulate some of my opinions for my first post on this dinky lil thread... sorry this is gonna be a long ramble. Apologise as well if I relate this too much to myself and make typos!
I follow Liv and think she seems like a nice but awkward girl. She doesn't come across as malicious and she seems to stay clear of "influencer drama"*. Unfortunately, I think she doesn't really have the drive to have social media as a full time job. She probably spends hours on her feed and engaging with fans but her content is just kinda bland. Her mental health may be a reason for that, too, however - mental health impacts everyone differently and she may struggle to be creative when her moods are low.
On the topic of alcohol issues, I agree that she probably wasn't an alcoholic or drug addict but that doesn't mean she didn't have a problematic relationship with alcohol. As someone with MH issues myself I stay clear of consuming too much alcohol because if I go over a limit then I can really mess myself up mentally. I know a lot of people who are similar to me and some people can easily manage that limit and still drink regularly. Others cannot and anytime they drink they end up in a situation that puts them in danger. Another reason could be that she was too heavily relying on alcoholic and it was easier to cut it out now before it became an addiction/dependence that is harder to manage. Also, medication reacts badly with alcohol and if you're on a lot of meds you're not *really* supposed to drink.
In terms of her ED, I believe she has BED as she claims as a result of never having proper treatment for her bulimia. However, she probably also has (ON TOP OF THE BED) a rather sedentary lifestyle and doesn't keep a balanced diet. I think she wholly bought into the whole self love stuff with "eat cake for breakfast! have mcdonalds every night for dinner! duck it" BS and beginning to accept and love your body and "duck" diet culture (with the support of the bopo movement and her followers) made her gain weight. Instead of reacting badly to it, she accepted it and embraced her body - and honestly, all power to her. I've gained a lot of weight in the past few years because of various reasons (mainly due to an injury and medication) and I really hate it/feel very self conscious, I know it makes me unhealthy and I'd like to change that but seeing bigger girls love their bodies makes me feel less crappy in mine for the time being. But, I think, alongside this "duck diets eat what you want" crap that she is ALSO binging too. A friend of mine had BED and gained 70 lbs in about 5 or 6 months. She would often post pictures on her insta if she was having something indulgent like a takeaway or fancy slice cake but there was a lot more going on behind closed doors. Instead of just having the once slice of cake she would end up binging and eating the whole cake plus whatever else she could get her hands on. Binging is secretive and shameful so of course Liv wouldn't have shared her worst binges and if she did, its because she wouldn't have realised it was binging.
I think even if she is disgusted at herself right now and feeling really shameful that she knows she has an image to uphold and loving her body "flaws n all" fits in with that mentality although I do understand that it seems contradictory if she's seeking help.
The whole mantra of the bopo movement is that people are still of value even if they're disabled/fat/ill/unconventional and I think that is great. Showing the raw side of mental illness and that there is no one standard size should be promoted more. However, the community is often used to romanticise unhealthy lifestyles and back people into a corner of blind acceptance of their fate. Recovery and treatment are great and people should be encouraged to seek avenues to help themselves where possible. People should be valued wherever they are in their journeys and not seen as lesser because of it but to keep people at square one or down a path of further destruction because of a false idea of "authenticity" is really harmful. I think the community does this to many young impressionable girls and can often become a further way to hurt, not heal.
I do wish her all the best and I hope if she reads this she doesn't think this is me being nasty for the sake of being nasty, I do enjoy her content for the most but her being out on the public eye means she will have people commenting and speculating about her.
* with the exception of the selfloveclubb/milliekeepsgoing stuff (that I really want to know the tea from).
