Matildas player Katrina Gorry has revealed she had struggled with an eating disorder for a number of years during her career.
The 32-year old captain of West Ham spoke on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Women’s Football Weekly podcast this week, opening up about the “really dark place” she found herself in while she was competing as a professional athlete.
“It just crept into my life,” she explained. “At the time, I was living in Japan, I had a lot of family things going on off the field, and I felt like the one thing I could control was my food.”
The Matildas midfielder said she had always identified as a “pretty strong athlete” and that she was not thinking about her weight when she sensed changes in her own behaviour.
“Different things started to creep in, whether it was weighing myself before training or before we had breakfast. I found myself trying to have this control over food and it just spiralled.”
“I thought, ‘this is just temporary, I’ll be able to get through it’, but four years went past, and I found myself in a really dark place to the point where I didn’t want to see anyone, I didn’t want to go to training, I didn’t want to get out of bed.”
Gorry recounted the struggle she endured to find a sympathetic ear, and hopes that by talking about her eating disorder today, more people will feel comfortable discussing body issues, especially among other professional sportspeople.
“It’s such an important thing to talk about – body image and the way that we respect our bodies,” Gorry said.
“As footballers, you think you can overcome anything and it’s something we don’t really talk about that much. [But] we still go through things off the field, and we need a space that we can be able to talk to each other, help each other, [and] be better footballers at the end of it.”
“It was really tough,” she continued, referring to her experience. “[People] could see I was going through things, but no-one wanted to ask the question, and I think maybe [that’s] because no-one knows how to respond.”
“If someone says, ‘no, I’m actually not doing OK, and this is what I’m going through’ – how do I respond to this? I’m grateful for what I went through because I can share my experience with younger players and people around me to make sure they don’t go through something like that.”
“Now that I went through that experience, I can see players going through it which is a good tool for me because I’m able to open up those conversations before I can see it spiralling into a bad place.”
During her interview on the podcast, the Brisbane-born athlete, who has been playing for West Ham since January 2024, opened up about motherhood and how becoming a parent shifted her perspectives on her own body. In August 2021, Gorry gave birth to her daughter, via IVF.
“Kids make you become present,” she said. “They make you appreciate the time you get not only on the field but chatting in the locker room and the relationships you make off the field. That really helped me on the field, off the field, and made me a different person.”
“I probably wasn’t a person people would come to when I was young but definitely after I had kids, I was much more nurturing. I really cared about the players around me because I feel like if they feel cared for and appreciated then you get the best out of them.”
She added that becoming a mother has also changed the way she sees her role on the field. “It’s definitely something I’ve learned over the last couple of years. I never really looked at myself as a captain but now I feel like it almost comes naturally.”
It’s not the first time the former Brisbane Roar player has opened up about motherhood and the challenges she has struggled with her disordered eating. In 2023, she told the Herald that going through pregnancy and labour made her appreciate her body in a new way.
“I’ve never really looked back on those times,” she said at the time. “But now when I look at it, I just can’t see myself ever really being that person because I have found a whole new appreciation for my body and what it can do. It’s given me the best memories in the world. And giving life is something pretty cool.”
Anyone needing support with eating disorders or body image issues is encouraged to contact:
Butterfly National Helpline on 1800 33 4673 (1800 ED HOPE) or visit www.butterfly.org.au to chat online or email, 7 days a week, 8am-midnight (AEST/AEDT).
Eating Disorders Victoria Helpline on 1300 550 23
For urgent support call Lifeline 13 11 14