The frontman of the band Reverend And The Makers has revealed he developed anorexia as a teenager after idolising “dead skinny” stars from the Britpop era.
Jon McClure, known by his stage name The Reverend, said he developed an eating disorder when he was 16, skipping meals and becoming “really thin”.
Eventually the rocker’s parents were forced to step in.
The Yorkshire singer and musician, 37, scored a number of hits between 2007 and 2009 with his band, who toured with fellow Sheffield natives Arctic Monkeys.
Speaking on the BBC’s Naked Podcast, McClure revealed he developed an eating disorder after seeing musicians from the 90s such as Oasis’ Liam Gallagher and Blur’s Damon Albarn.
He said: “By about 14 I’d clapped quite a lot of weight on. As I put weight on I started to develop this ‘I don’t want people to see me’.
“This is around the time Britpop is coming out so there’s all these rock stars, your idols, who are all bone thin and dead skinny.
“Jarvis (Cocker) and Liam Gallagher and Damon (Albarn), and they’re all dead thin, and I started to get shy about my body.
“Around the age of 16 I got really funny with food – I skipped meals, I guess you would call it anorexia.
“I went really thin and my parents had to step in. I think women tend to be more vigilant in this day and age for other ladies who are suffering with eating disorders.
“There’s still an assumption amongst a lot of blokes that it doesn’t affect men but it really does.
“I was keeping secrets from people and skipping meals and making excuses not to eat certain things.
“I was quite unhappy, I think, looking back.”
McClure spoke during a special men’s takeover of the podcast, in which celebrities are interviewed in the nude.
The rocker said he believed the media and fashion industries perpetuated an idea that people should look a certain way, adding he wanted to dismantle that notion.
Us blokes feel weird about our bodies too sometimes
I wanted to talk to you about it. So myself and @adam3oxley got it all off for the @TheNakedPodcast
Enjoy 👇👇👇 https://t.co/0BD8hk41Tc
— Reverend&TheMakers (@Reverend_Makers) February 21, 2019
He added: “Always in the back of my mind there’s this conformity.
“You see adverts and you think ‘I need to look like that’. I’m never going to look like that.
“The media, the fashion industry, they perpetuate a notion that people have to look a certain way. I think boys fall victim to that just as much as girls do.
“I guess a lot of fellas struggle in that regard. I think there’s still an assumption amongst a lot of blokes that it doesn’t affect men, but it does.
“That’s why I wanted to do it (the interview) really.”
McClure was interviewed by Adam Oxley at a music studio in Sheffield.