by Roving Reporter, Ashlea M
You might have heard of David Tredinnick. He's an accomplished actor who starred in one of Australia's most popular television shows, The Secret Life of Us. But you might not know that in his teens, David had serious body image problems.
A fitness fanatic
When he was 15, David was obsessed with extreme exercise. He was immersed in thoughts of pushing his body to unreachable physical limits, addicted to the adrenalin of working out. David's weight dropped dangerously below healthy norms and eventually he was hospitalised.
David's situation isn't unique. According to the Better Health Channel (new window), "around 20 per cent of regular exercisers (approximately 5 per cent of the population) are addicted to exercise, either psychologically or physically." As David's case shows, this can lead to some serious complications.
David spent six weeks in hospital. Going home wasn't easy. He felt like he was being thrown back into the world that created all the problems in the first place. This is a common feeling for sufferers of mental health problems, especially body image-related disorders.
Rebuilding his life and finding fame
With the support of friends and family and determined doctors, David recovered. He put those dark days behind him and rebuilt his life.
After a somewhat unsteady start to his working life, David claims he fell into acting. "I was at Melbourne Uni doing a very slow Arts degree," he laughs. For nine years he combined studies with acting gigs. And then: "I woke up one morning and realised I really couldn't do anything else," he says.
One measure of David's achievement has been his role playing Simon Trader, the barman in popular Aussie twentysomething soap opera The Secret Life of Us.
When reminiscing about the times when Secret was a massive hit both here and overseas, David still seems amazed that he was involved. "Again it was just a job I fell into. I just happened to be around at the time," he says. But this gig became something more for David - he had gained celebrity status.
"This one time I was in Barcelona and these English tourists kept stopping and saying 'You're that guy from that show! We love that show!' and getting all excited about it," laughs David.
A symptom of success?
Nowadays David juggles being the father of a young daughter, theatre commitments, study, and paid work (painting the set of Neighbours). He also finds time to use his profile to advocate for positive body image.
"When I started on The Secret Life of Us, we had a broad range of body types. Then as we got into series three, I noticed there was a trend of cast members losing all this weight, the new cast were all noticeably younger and had skeletal frames," says David.
David doesn't think the sudden shift in the cast's appearance was merely a coincidence. After The Secret Life of Us, Channel Ten's next big hit was The OC, which appealed to a younger audience and used even skinnier actors.
Making a difference
Because of his profile and personal experience, David was invited to join a working group alongside Karen Webster, the director of the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival, and people from the fashion, media, advertising and health industries, to discuss the development of a Media Code of Conduct (link to Code of Conduct page) in relation to promoting positive body image.
"It is an international issue. I was surprised people from the fashion industry were so keen to go ahead. I thought that would be the toughest issue," says David.
The Voluntary Media Code of Conduct was launched in April 2008. It's a step in the right direction, but there's a long way to go, as David is only too aware.
"My daughter and I were watching The Biggest Loser," says David, "and one of the contestants was crying and she turned to me and said 'Daddy, she's crying because she is fat.' She's not even four! How can someone so young even think that? It's because it is in our faces every day."
Further reading
The Media Code of Conduct seeks the commitment of fashion, media, and advertising industries to promote positive body images. Read more on our page about Helping the media make changes.
For more information on where to get help for body image issues Check out the Where to get help page (link) in this Body image section.
