Victoria Beckham, Princess Diana and Oprah Winfrey admitted to it. Kate Moss denied having the condition and Keira Knightley sued the newspaper that accused her of lying about it - and won a settlement payout.
As celebrities obsess about eating disorders in memoirs, confessions and television chat shows, incidence rates in the United States have reached epidemic levels, according to the National Association for Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Eating Disorders.
Seven million women and a million men in the US are suffering from some form of eating disorder, with 86 per cent aged under 21 when the illness starts and 43 per cent aged under 16.
They and other sufferers around the world can feed their dreams at more than 400 'pro-ana' websites that display 'thinspiration' photos of emaciated stars to show what can be achieved, and offer tips and support on living with anorexia.
The sites, many of which carry warnings that people enter at their own risk, have drawn criticism from health advocacy groups for rejecting the fact that anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder.
Controversy over standards of thinness also hit the fashion industry last year after Uruguayan teenage sisters Eliana and Luisel Ramos - both models - died of heart attacks within six months of each other.
Spain banned ultra-thin models from the catwalks and the French National Assembly moved legislation in April to make it illegal for anyone - including fashion magazines, advertisers and websites - to publicly encourage extreme thinness.