Jamie Laing has revealed his battle with bulimia for the first time, as he admitted he kept it secret for years out of 'shame'.

The TV personality, 36, explained that he had believed it was something that just affected women, and only realised he had a problem when he was caught making himself sick by his now-wife Sophie Habboo.

He decided to publicly speak about his eating disorder in his new book, Boys Don’t Cry, because he found that men struggle to talk about their mental health and 'suffer in silence', so he wanted to 'open the doors for everyone to have that conversation'.

Jamie opened up on his experience to Fearne Cotton on her Happy Place podcast, where he admitted out loud that he'd had an eating disorder for the first time.

He recalled how he first began having issues with his body at around 18 years old, after he suffered a knee injury that shattered his dreams of becoming a professional rugby player.

He said: 'My story is that I played a lot of sport, very sporty, always quite lean. And I used to eat a lot of food because I was trying to put on weight for rugby. 

'And when I had my knee injury and sport was taken away from me, I must've gone into some sort of anxiety without realising it. And I got comfort in eating.'

The reality star explained how a turning point came when he went on holiday, recalling: 'It was back when you didn't really have camera phones, so I had a disposable camera and I went on holiday. 

'I was taking photos and my mum would say to me, "You look a bit stocky. You're eating a lot and you look a bit stocky." And it was from a place of love, but I was like "whatever".

'And I remember getting the photos developed and I came across a picture of me topless on the beach and I did look stocky. I didn't look lean, I didn't look as six-packy as I usually did. And immediately I just felt shame.'

He went on: 'That day something clicked in my brain, I must've been 18 or 19, and I started to diet. I was conscious of what I was eating, so Coca-Cola became Diet Coke, hummus became reduced fat, I would eat rice cakes instead of crisps and I started dieting.

'And I started becoming thinner. I became so conscious of my weight, which I'd never done before.'

Jamie explained that his struggles only worsened when he joined Made In Chelsea in 2011 when he was 23 years old, as food became his only means of 'control'.

He said: 'I then joined Made In Chelsea and everything was edited for me, I had no control of my life, I was conscious about the way that I looked because people were writing stuff on social media, that I then had to control something - so that became in part, what I was eating.

'I've spoken to people who have had eating disorders and it's hard for me to say, but I had an eating disorder for sure. And I've never said that out loud.

'There were moments in my 20s where I wouldn't keep my food down, because it was just a complete control thing. And it was a secret I had.'

He explained how he felt completely unable to talk to any of his male friends about his struggles, feeling that eating disorders weren't something men could have.

Jamie recalled how his 'wake-up call' that he had a problem came thanks to his wife Sophie, 31, who is currently pregnant with their first child.

He recounted: 'Sophie caught me once and this secret that I had, was suddenly not a secret anymore and suddenly I realised what was going on.

'She said to me, "What are you doing?" and I said, "I was doing nothing," and she said: "Yes you were. I heard you being sick."

'She said, "It's okay, I just want you to know that whatever you're dealing with, I'm sorry. And if you ever want talk about it, I'm here."

'And I suddenly clicked onto what was happening. It was like it was an out-of-body experience and then suddenly became a realistic thing that I was doing.'

He added: 'When Sophie said that to me, that's when I woke up and I was like, "Oh my God, what the hell? Why am I even doing this? Why am I injuring myself?" It was a big wake-up call.'

He then watched Freddie Flintoff's new documentary, where Jamie's pal, Jack Whitehall, revealed that he had battled bulimia when he started on TV and had been inspired to speak out by Freddie's openness about his eating disorder.

Jamie said it made him realise how valuable speaking about his experience could be for other men, saying: 'Because women are amazing with the way they talk about body positivity, but with guys we never talk about it. 

'To be sexy and attractive, we have to go to the gym and do press-ups and have abs and be able to lift 100kg and not everyone can do that. And in my experience, we suffer in silence because it's so shameful.

'You don't talk to your guy friends about it, no freaking way, are you kidding me? Not in a million years. I could maybe talk to my mum about it, I could maybe talk to my sister about it. But I couldn't talk to guys about it.

'For whatever reason, I can talk about my anxiety, I can talk about anything, but that for me... It's a very shameful thing, for some reason I find it really shameful.

'I even went to a therapist and when I told the therapist what was happening, I had to cover my eyes and say it because I was so embarrassed about it.'

He continued: 'Talking from a guy point of view, I think we're very good at finding excuses and guys are good at playing dumb - in their relationships, to their friends, to themselves, saying it doesn't matter.

'In my experience, as guys we don't open that door to talk about loneliness, or anxiety, or weight or our fear of failure. So my book was to open those doors for everyone to have that conversation.'

While Jamie revealed his impeding fatherhood also motivated him to get candid in his book, saying: 'That's why I wrote it for my future kid, because I want my baby to understand they can talk about things.'

Jamie has been open about his mental health battles over the years, previously revealing he had his first panic attack aged 20 and took himself to hospital as he thought he was going to die. 

Appearing on Good Morning Britain in October last year for World Mental Health Day, he said described the sensation of a panic attack, saying: 'You feel like you're going to die. I thought I was having a heart attack.

'I hid anxiety for many years, I had the typical thing at panic attack at 20 years old, didn't know what it was and took myself to hospital and then just hid it for many years.

'It feels like your body is taking over you and the adrenaline is going thorough the roof because you're hyperventilating. Chest gets tight, you feel dizzy, you feel like you're fainting.

'I took myself to hospital and they said "You're having a panic attack don't worry go home". And that was the day my life changed. I had anxiety that I didn't know what it was, didn't understand it, never spoke out about it.'

Asked why he took so long to speak out about his anxiety, Jamie said: 'Truthfully at the time I was ashamed of it. I didn't know what it was and I just wanted it to go.'

'It was there for many years until I spoke to a really great friend of mine, who was best man at my wedding, a guy called Toby, and I finally phoned him up,' Jamie continued.

'I got very emotional on the phone and I said "Toby something's wrong with me" and I was scared what he was going to say and he said "Don't worry Jamie we'll go through it together" - and it was this echo back that was incredible.

'I suddenly realised that all these years I had been holding it in and why hadn't I spoken out about it?'

If you've been affected by this story, help and support is available from BEAT Eating Disorders by calling 0808 801 0677 or emailing [email protected]