99. Lauren McQuistin: eating disorders in classical music (live)

Things Musicians Don't Talk About

*Trigger warning: discussion of eating disorders, alcoholism, addiction*

From our live event at the Royal Society of Musicians on 22nd May 2025

Lauren McQuistin has been running the Instagram account @brutalrecovery for years now. Her advocacy for honest recovery discourse has resonated with many alcoholics, particularly with her with her trademark eloquence and dry humour. Lauren now shares her experience of eating disorders - anorexia and bulimia in particular - and how this was especially shaped by her time as a classically-trained soprano. We asked her about her journey through her musical training and her addictions, her views on why there is such a high prevalence of EDs in classical music, body image critique in the opera world, eating disorders as addictions, how her recovery looks day-to-day now, and her new book No Lost Causes Club. As Hattie and I say in the talk, we've really struggled to find someone in classical music to speak about this subject, so huge thank you Lauren for being that person.

Check out Lauren on Instagram and go read her new book!

Thank you to forScore for advertising with us and to the Royal Society of Musicians for their ongoing support.

forScore: https://forscore.co

Things Musicians Don't Talk About is supported by the Royal Society of Musicians! Follow RSM on Instagram, X and Facebook.

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Hosts: Hattie Butterworth & Rebecca Toal

Editor & engineer: Oscar Gormley

Music: Katy Ehrlich

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