Overwhelmed by the demands of the Hollywood culture, Jane Fonda spent nearly 20 years in the relentless pursuit of thinness, abusing food and diet pills in equal measure. She became one of the first actresses to break the silence over eating disorders, openly admitting to and then campaigning to raise awareness about bulimia and anorexia.

Paula Abdul has admitted to suffering from bulimia, while Sally Field battled the same disease for three years.

'Ally McBeal' star Courtney Thorne-Smith told US Weekly that her slide into anorexia ultimately led her to quit the show. "I started undereating, overexercising, pushing myself too hard and brutalizing my immune system," she said. "The amount of time I spent thinking about food and being upset about my body was insane."

Victoria Beckham 'fessed up to suffering from anorexia in her biography 'Learning to Fly', but she continues to be teetering on the brink; she's also one of the foremost propagators of the disturbing get-back-to-size-6-after-baby race among new celebrity mothers.

Mary Kate-Olsen, to the horror of fans and close friends, appeared on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in April last year looking emaciated. The next day, news came that she had checked into a clinic for treatment for anorexia.

Her oversized head and skeletal body have coined the term "the lollipop look", a classic symptom of anorexia and, shockingly, a look that many young models and actresses consider to be "in" right now.

After a period of drastic weight loss, rumours of Lindsay Lohan's alleged bulimia continue to taunt her, despite continual denials.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler (who plays James Gandolphini's daughter in 'Sopranos') has become a spokesperson for anorexia, after suffering from the condition herself and breaking the silence in her autobiography 'Wise Girl', which is aimed at helping young girls break the starvation cycle.

"It is a tough thing to talk about it, but it is actually therapeutic for me," she said. "I know it is something that touches almost every girl, and men, too."

So much for feminism

Societal pressure - in particular the Hollywood assumption that there's always one more kilo to shed, one more hour to exercise, one less meal to eat – is a major trigger for eating disorders.

The idea that perfection itself is illusive and something universal to be attained, instead of something individual that everyone possesses, is one of the biggest myths of our celebrity-driven society.

"We have become celebrity mad," says psychologist Megan de Beyer. "Most teens in SA read Heat and follow celebrities as if they supply the answer to a happy balanced life. This is society's fault because we are often too busy to supply healthy alternatives."

"People of worth get lost in the flashlights."

In this celebrity-driven society, women are valued mostly for how they look, regardless of what they do. Because Hollywood is far-reaching it's impossible to shield young girls from this warped perception of beauty.

Clinical psychologist and 'Reviving Ophelia' author Mary Pipher writes: “Research shows that virtually all women are ashamed of their bodies. It used to be adult women [and] teenage girls who were ashamed, but now you see the shame down to very young girls — 10, 11 years old."

"Society’s standard of beauty is an image that is literally just short of starvation for most women," Pipher adds.

In Hollywood, women must be of a certain weight, and the yardstick, it seems, is getting thinner and thinner.

It's a double-edged sword: competition is fierce among women who make it in Hollywood, but in taking part in this race to be thin, these actresses, supposed role models, are perpetrating a beauty myth that is making ordinary women ashamed of who they are.

In the world of eating disorders and celebrity culture, women have become their own worst enemies. So much for feminism.