7 hours ago
1 
Gabby Thomas (Rosie Bentham) finally accepts that she needs help in Emmerdale soon after developing an eating disorder.
Shortly after being rejected by Ross Barton (Michael Parr), Gabby began taking an interest in consuming healthy foods and drinks. Sadly, her need to control something has seen her become hyper-fixated on what goes into her body.
Food and drink aside, Gabby has created a view that she shouldn’t consume medication. As a result of her social media showing her videos that spread false information about medicine and pharmaceutical companies, Gabby believes that painkillers actually introduce harmful toxins to her body.
The only person who has picked up on what’s going on with Gabby is Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker). When Gabby visited the surgery to complain that her cough wasn’t getting any better, she started making comments about medication, which left Manpreet suspicious.
After getting a sense of Gabby’s social media algorithm, and discovering some concerning test results, Manpreet came to the conclusion that Gabby has orthorexia.
Coming up, Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) is troubled when Manpreet updates her about Gabby’s recent social media posts. Laurel heads off to find her, but doesn’t know that Gabby is on the floor behind the counter at The Hide, suffering a panic attack.
Thankfully, Laurel finds Gabby. She tries to get her to open up, but Gabby suddenly collapses and Laurel has to call an ambulance.
At the hospital, Gabby gives Manpreet permission to tell Laurel about her orthorexia, and it seems she is ready to accept that she needs some help.
News travels fast in the village, as Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle) quickly learns about Gabby and apologises for not spotting the signs earlier.
It’s also revealed that Dotty, Laurel’s young daughter, has become interested in Gabby’s social media posts. Dotty is entirely unaware that she is observing a serious psychological struggle, leaving her vulnerable to copying the same harmful behaviours.
‘This is thing with any eating disorder,’ star Rosie Bentham told us.
‘Anorexia, bulimia, and everything. With orthorexia, it’s all about control and obsession with what you think your life is going to look like when it’s perfect. That starts with what you are fuelling you’re body with.
‘The social media algorithm sucks you in, doesn’t it? Because I am very interested in the gym and being healthy, I noticed that my algorithm was getting so extreme, and the pressure put on young people especially.
‘I was really interested in why we are scrolling down our social media page and listening to a random person with probably no qualifications in nutrition, and they’re walking down a supermarket aisle and telling us that if you eat this, this is going to happen and this chemical means this.
‘So then I looked into it a bit. I also know of people who might restrict themselves from social situations due to restrictive behaviours on what they can eat or what they should be consuming. I connected the dots.
‘There’s such a rise in this optimisation culture where people want to be the best version of themselves. I can talk about it for ages. It’s just so interesting. The misconception, which I don’t want people to get from this story, that orthorexia is not just eating healthily and when that gets bad. It’s the psychological, emotional side that comes with it.’
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·