London: Teenage girls are being driven to anorexia by the desire to copy the ‘thigh gap’ of stick-thin celebrities such as Cara Delevingne, experts have warned.
Images of the 20-year-old model, who has been romantically linked to Prince Harry, have been circulated on the internet - with hundreds of girls pledging to starve themselves so that their legs, like hers, do not touch above the knee.
But experts warned that it was not a healthy look and is often the result of malnourishment or photo retouching.
Websites dedicated to promoting the ‘thigh gap’ have sprung up as hundreds of girls have taken to Twitter to share tips on how to get “legs like Cara”.
One vowed to “starve” to “be at least a skinny size eight and have a thigh gap at the end of the year”. Another boasted: “Being sick and not eating for three days has made my thigh gap bigger.”
A spoof Twitter account called Cara’s thigh gap has also attracted more than 1,600 followers. The description reads: “Cara Delevingne works me out every day so I can stay this perfect. Thanks mum.”
Other Twitter posts have mentioned One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson’s girlfriend Eleanor Calder, 20. One fan wrote that she wanted to meet her so that she could “get tips on how to get a thigh gap and boyfriend”.
Miss Delevingne, who was recently named Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards 2012, said she thought the spoof Twitter feed was “pretty funny”.
But Leanne Thorndyke, of eating disorders charity Beat, warned: “Hardly anyone has a ‘thigh gap’ without being underweight, or not yet fully adult. Yet most of the pictures we see in adverts show grown women with thighs that do not meet when they stand upright.
“In almost every case, this is an effect of photoshopping. It isn’t real, and it isn’t achievable in healthy ways.
“Our bodies come in a wonderful natural variety of shapes and sizes. If people have to become underweight to have a ‘thigh gap’ this may put them at risk of eating disorders.”
