Sh0cking revelation from GMA host Ginger Zee’s Mother: “The psychological spiral at 14 almost drowned my daughter.”

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In 2016, ABC News chief meteorologist Ginger Zee opened up about her battle with an0rexia, which she struggled with from ages 10 to 14 following her parents’ divorce. “It was a horrendous spiral that could have taken my life,” Zee revealed. “My mom was scared she was going to lose her daughter.”

Zee admitted that in the past she hadn’t been able to talk about her eating disorder “because an0rexia is about lying to yourself and a lot about lying to other people. But now I’m saying, ‘Here it is,'” she told Glamour following her admission. “I wish I could go back, but I can’t. The best thing I can do is just go forward.”

Zee spoke with Glamour again to reflect on her progress and what worked for her in recovery. In her new book Natural Disaster: I Cover Them, I Am One, Zee goes in-depth about the many challenges she’s faced throughout her life, including d3pression. “I didn’t choose to get an0rexia, but the choice you do have is asking for help,” she says.

Now happily married with a young son and a new baby on the way, Zee wants to help others who are struggling. “I want to pass those tools along and hope my advice can help,” she says. Here, she shares the lessons she’s learned from her own experiences:

On her long journey with an0rexia:

“There are still more days than not that I still don’t love my body. Being pregnant has actually helped dramatically [Zee is currently expecting her second child], because you have no control over it, which has made me learn the beauty of a woman’s body more than anything. But even if you’re not pregnant, it’s about forgiveness. It’s about realizing you’re going to have bloated days, because without a bloated day, you’re not going to have a hot day. I had a week where I wasn’t able to work out at all, and you know you feel completely different when your body hasn’t moved? It psychologically messes with me still if I haven’t moved my body, but I will tell myself that tomorrow is a new day for me, and whether it’s a session with a trainer, or a scheduled walk, it’s a new day. It’s allowing yourself those moments…feeling it, and then moving on from it. It’s not sitting in it and drowning in it. If you have to go to an event, you have to go to the event. And nobody but you is going to know you’re bloated. That’s the other thing…outside perspective is so hard to do.

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“If I have anything left to work on, it is still accepting my own body. And it’s gotten so much better in recent years, and pregnancy has really helped me accept any changes. I looked at pictures of when I was pregnant last time, and it looked like I was having dental work on my cheeks, they were so big! But this child comes out of you, and you’re like, ‘No way! I made that?!’ There’s so such joy. But remember we’re all fighting through something, and there’s going to be great days and not so great days.”

On getting the help she needed for d3pression:

“My first experiences with therapy weren’t exactly a good fit. First of all, you have to be genuinely ready for it. You have to be ready to go tell this person everything, because that’s the only way that they’re trained to help you. But patience is everything. It may not be the first person you visit. It’s a bit like dating, in a weird way. Don’t be afraid to solicit help for finding that person either. It also opens you up to saying, ‘I need help.’ When you’re in a difficult place, it’s very hard to imagine there is someone [that can help], especially if you’re in a place where you can barely imagine putting on your coat to go outside. But telling someone in your life that you need help looking [for a therapist or counselor] is a great way to get the process started.”

On keeping her emotions in check:

“I do a checklist multiple times a day. Whenever I feel anger or frustration, I’ll say, ‘Wait a minute, is this going to matter tomorrow?’ Almost always the answer is no. And I can stop myself right there. If the answer is yes, I’ll advance it and say, ‘Is this going to matter in a week?’ If that’s yes, I’ll ask if it’s going to matter in a year. If it’s going to matter in a year from now, then I’m allowed to react. It’s giving yourself that perspective really quickly that doesn’t allow those emotions. You’re of course allowed to feel disappointed and mad and frustrated, and all of those things. But I used to let a bad show, a bad weather forecast, whatever it is, let me spiral. What happens is you grab everything on the way down and think everything is bad. You have to be careful not to do that, because you can absolutely drive yourself crazy by taking on all those little moments. They add up.”

On sharing difficult parts of her past:

“It was a big step for me to realize not everyone’s going to love every part of me and think that I’m the sunshiny, Midwestern girl next door that I’ve always wanted to portray—the one that I think I have in me. Writing this book was the first time I was saying, ‘If you don’t like it, you don’t like it.’ And that is so freeing and healing. It’s a never-ending part of therapy where I say, ‘Alright, I’m ready to say it, I’m ready to share it, I’m ready to help people, and now you know. And if you don’t like it, OK.’”

On setting emotional boundaries:

“From a young age, I would absorb people’s feelings. I’ve had to learn to put up a fence, and that fence is crucial. I have to remember people have their opinions and feelings, but I still don’t need to absorb or take on what they’re feeling all the time. I need to keep my opinions and my feelings on this side of the fence. And that’s how life needs to work, because if you don’t do that, you’re taking on the world too much. I found my empathy and absorption was so bad that I ended up never having an opinion myself. Like, my husband burned the French toast this weekend and started getting upset, and because my whole life I’ve taken on what other people are feeling, I was like, ‘Wait a minute, why am I upset that he burnt the French toast and he’s getting upset about it?’ That’s his feelings, and let him have his feelings. It’s as simple as that.”

On staying strong m3ntally:

“The most important part [of good m3ntal health] is giving yourself forgiveness. At the end of all of this, even if you’ve had an awful day, you can still start over. You can still do those checks. Not allowing yourself to get mad at yourself is my number one tip for everybody. Because there’s no reason to. You’re still going to be within your own body tomorrow, and you’re still going to be here, so you might as well like it and enjoy it. That’s all we’ve got.”