Artists On Mental Health: Florence Welch

Magda Kanecka for CEOLMag\

Trigger Warning: mentions of eating disorders throughout the article.

In my own lifelong struggles with a restrictive eating disorder, I know it is often difficult to find light in a tunnel. This is why seeking a role model has been crucial to me in my own recovery, and Florence Welch’s openness about her own struggles with disordered eating has not gone unnoticed within this.

In a Rolling Stones UK interview in 2022, she stated that as a young girl, she thought “love was a kind of emptiness”, a lyric mentioned in her song “Hunger”. Florence has described her struggles with her weight and self-esteem while she was growing up, which carried on into her adulthood. She further shared the logic that she held throughout her life: “I don’t deserve to eat, I don’t deserve to feel comfortable.”

Choosing to start recovering from my eating disorder has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, though it continues to haunt me and, in all honesty, inconvenience me, every day of my life. Fortunately or not, Florence Welch shares this view along with many others with eating disorders, stating that “anorexic thinking” is still a part of her life, even despite herself having chosen recovery.

In her music, Florence discusses her eating disorder as well as other mental health struggles, such as anxiety, addiction, depression, and loss. The song “Free” details her struggle with anxiety that worsened for Florence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most notably, the previously mentioned track “Hunger” can be interpreted as shining a light on eating disorder or addiction recovery, and “What the Water Gave Me” outlines experiences of death and grief.

Furthermore, in her song “Dream Girl Evil”, Florence uses religious imagery in the lines “Walk on water just to kiss me” and “Make me evil, then I’m an angel instead” to entail the experiences of womanhood and objectification she faces as a woman.

Florence & The Machine’s music continues to touch on sensitive yet necessary subjects topics throughout their discography, even beyond the listed examples. Through this, Florence Welch becomes a role model for other sufferers of numerous mental health struggles. To me, she is living proof that you can be dealing with your own struggles and still be successful. 

Not many musicians are as open about their eating disorder struggles as Florence is, and I admire her for sharing her experiences every time, for I myself know how difficult it is to speak out. Florence Welch reflects great courage, fearlessness, and bravery for many, both within her music and her private life.

At least 1.25 million people struggle with an eating disorder in the UK – and many of those cases go unnoticed due to fears of seeking help. If you are struggling, please remember there is help out there waiting for you whenever you need it, and you are not alone in your struggles. 

Helplines: 

BEAT Eating Disorders 3pm-8pm Monday-Friday: 0808 801 0677 (England) & online

MIND Mental Health Charity, 9am-5pm Monday-Friday: 02082152243

Samaritans, 24/7: 116 123

Text “SHOUT” to 85258

Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM): 0800 58 58 58 & online