The woman who "Idol" judge Simon Cowell called "the best of the competition" details her five-year battle with her eating disorder in the new issue of People magazine.
"I knew I had put off going to a treatment center long enough -- I'd been struggling with bulimia since I was 17," McPhee said.
"Growing up in Los Angeles and spending all those years in dance class, I'd been conscious of body image at a young age, and I went through phases of exercising compulsively and starving myself. ... Food was my crutch; it was how I dealt with emotions and uncomfortable situations."
The 22-year-old singer was enrolled for three months at the Eating Disorder Center of California, where she said she managed to gain control over the eating disorder.
