The Mirror Lied - Chapter One

Before she turned twenty, Jessica Gordon was raped by the person entrusted to protect her and nearly killed by her brother, but those events paled in comparison to the life and death struggles she faced for the next twenty-five years. “The Mirror Lied” chronicles, in personal and often stark terms, Jessica Gordon’s decades-long battles with bulimia, anorexia, diet pill addiction, laxative abuse, and cutting.

Told in Jessica's voice, and based on extensive interviews with her, the book has been called gripping, compelling, inspirational and heart-wrenching. Readers are pulled into Jessica’s world of mistreatment, pain and struggle as they witness her effort to overcome this debilitating disorder. They also meet the people fighting to save her life.

“Eating disorders are now a deadly epidemic affecting millions of people in the United States,” notes Dr. Marc A. Zimmer, the psychotherapist who treated Jessica and a co-author of the book. “We hope Jessica’s story will prevent others from suffering the same fate.”

Woven throughout her story is important information about the habits and motivations of people trapped in the world of eating disorders. Readers will learn to identify behaviors that point to these complex and confusing disorders and how to provide support. Once an eating disorder begins, especially if it is left unchecked or improperly treated, it can kill its victim.