Ke$ha is currently in rehab for an eating disorder which apparently came into being after Dr. Luke compared her to a refrigerator. I’m not sure how true any of that is, or if it even matters, but the bottom line is that Ke$ha was anorexic and bulimic and needed help, so she’s getting it. Her mother, Pebe Sebert, apparently also checked into rehab at the same facility, though I’m not quite sure why (and it doesn’t really matter in the context of this story).
Pebe has been chatting away to the press about Ke$ha’s condition and has revealed that her daughter nearly died as a result of being bullied about her weight.
From People:
“I’ve watched my beautiful, self-confident, brilliant daughter be berated and ridiculed for her looks and weight to the point that she almost died,” Sebert says.
“The doctors told me her blood pressure and sodium levels were so low, they’d never seen it that low except with someone who’d had a heart attack or stroke. They said it was a miracle she hadn’t already dropped dead on stage.”
Damn, that’s crazy – and really sad, too. Pebe also said that Ke$ha has had body issues since she was in middle school but they got progressively worse once she signed her record deal at 18 and began working with former manager David Sonenberg.
“One time on a conference call, Sonenberg was screaming, “You need to lose weight! I don’t care what you do … take drugs, not eat, stick your finger down your throat!” Sebert tells PEOPLE.
“Ke$ha was just weeping. She drove around afterward thinking about killing herself.” (Sonenberg denied any of the allegations.)
And apparently Dr. Luke, the pop hitmaker who has written huge songs for Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry and Jessie J, was just as bad.
“He has just always been very disrespectful about her weight. “He’d say it in certain ways, like ‘Why don’t you try running?’ She was doing everything and not getting thin fast enough, and that’s when she first became bulimic.”
Ugh, what the fuck? Sure, some of this might be exaggerated, but I have a feeling it’s not. Sure, some women manage to stand up to the pressure to be a size 0 in the business, but many don’t because they want to achieve success in their field so badly and feel like it’s “part of their job” to look the part. What a shame – I hope Ke$ha gets better soon, but unfortunately, battles like that tend to stick with you throughout your life.
The industry WILL kill her daughter.