Country singer Sara Evans reveals struggles with body dysmorphia, eating disorder

Sara Evans says being in the spotlight has often been detrimental to her mental and physical health.

The "Born to Fly" singer spoke about her preoccupation with public opinion and the toll it has taken on her during a Monday appearance on two-time "Dancing with the Stars" winner Cheryl Burke's podcast, "Sex, Lies, And Spray Tans."

Evans spoke at length about how having her body under constant scrutiny has instilled a deep fear of gaining weight.

"I'm more scared of being fat than anything in the world, and that's not good. That's not normal," Evans told Burke, also saying that she obsesses over hate comments from internet trolls, and one offhand comment from a passerby can ruin her day.

Strangers aren't the only offenders.

"My record label, every time I had a baby, they would be like, 'When's she gonna lose weight?'" she said. "So things like that would just get in my head."

The mom of three said she internalized the pressure, convincing herself she could control others' opinions of her, "like, if I'm skinny and I'm pretty and I did a good show, then I'm loved, and I want to feel loved no matter what."

None of these thought patterns are helped by the "extreme anxiety" that she has suffered from since childhood, she said on the podcast.

It started with an incident in 1979 when Evans was 8 years old, she told People in 2020. She was crossing the highway bordering her family's farm in Missouri when she was hit by a car and launched 80 feet off the road.

"When they found me, I was curled up in a ball with my left leg mangled and twisted and almost severed in two. They all thought I was dead," Evans recalls in her 2020 memoir, "Born to Fly."

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