Model Matilda Dods quit the runway after dealing with eating disorder

An Australian high fashion model who walked the runway for designers like Gucci and Dior has spoken about how she developed an eating disorder while working overseas – and took a break from the industry to recover.

Matilda Dods, who grew up in the northern NSW small town of Byron Bay, was 14 when she first became interested in modelling and 15 when she was signed to leading agency IMG.

She moved to Paris into a model sharehouse the moment she graduated school at 18 and began working in what seemed to be a very glamorous industry, but it wasn’t long until the need to maintain a certain weight loomed over her.

Now 24, Matilda discussed her anorexia diagnosis and recovery with Tori Clapham and Bec Chidiac on the Peaches podcast, giving inside information on what it was like to be a pause on her career to take control of her health.

Now 24, Matilda discussed her anorexia diagnosis and recovery with Tori Clapham and Bec Chidiac on the Peaches podcast, giving inside information on what it was like to be a pause on her career to take control of her health (pictured modelling in Australia)

The striking young woman’s first foray into the modelling world happened when a local Byron vintage brand approached her on Facebook and asked to shoot a campaign at a basketball court.

Those Kodak images were presented to agents at IMG and she was signed at 15 but her mother, a model herself, encouraged her to finish school before setting off overseas to work on the runway. 

‘At the time you get sent to Paris and do a bunch of test shoots and live in a terrifying apartment. There were miniature cups and bowls in the apartment and I thought to myself “is this to make us eat less?” Is this the way they’re subconsciously trying to portion control us?’ She said.

Matilda lived with a Dutch girl for two weeks who was sent back to the Netherlands after she failed to be the correct weight for the modelling work she was tasked with doing. 

Matilda lived with a Dutch girl for two weeks who was sent back to the Netherlands after she failed to be the correct weight for the modelling work she was tasked with doing

‘I was never explicitly told to lose weight except once in Paris but there was all of this implicit information I was absorbing the whole time,’ she said. 

The result was a ‘vegan diet’ she followed for five years as a way to ‘obsess about food’ because it is ‘accepted by society’ and going to the gym for three hours a day, six days a week. 

‘I had lost a significant amount of weight by this point. It was right at the beginning of the first Covid lockdown in Sydney that my therapist said maybe we should address it,’ she said.

The result was a ‘vegan diet’ she followed for five years as a way to ‘obsess about food’ because it is ‘accepted by society’ and going to the gym for three hours a day, six days a week

The lockdowns meant Matilda had to address her eight year restrictive ‘diet’ with food and start eating three meals and snacks everyday.  

She moved back into her parents’ house and ate plenty of ‘boring, plain food’ like porridge or smoothies with a third of a tub of ice cream in it, just to gain weight.

Now she can enjoy a bacon and egg roll three times a week, maintain a loving relationship and work, comfortably, as a model in Australia.

If you need help or support for an eating disorder or body image issue, please call Butterfly’s National Helpline on 1800 334 673 or email support@thebutterflyfoundation.org.au