RHONJ’s Jackie Reflects on 18-Year Battle With Eating Disorder

The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Jackie Mark Goldschneider is getting candid about her 18-year struggle with an eating disorder and her recovery process.

While the reality star has been open about the topic this season, she said that tonight’s episode marks the beginning of her journey to healing.

She wrote in a March 29 Instagram post that her disorder “took over my mind, my body and my life.”

Reflecting on her experience, Jackie said that the conceptions she had of herself prevented her from seeking help.

“18 years of dangerous habits, secretive behaviors and obsessive eating and exercise patterns that I was terrified to let go of, because I wrapped so much of my identity around being thin,” she said. “I was ashamed of my behavior around food and scared that people wouldn’t understand why or how I could do this to myself. I also didn’t know how to get help, as a middle aged woman with 4 young children.”