Rachael Finch has something personal she’d like to share. If you’re one of her 298K followers on Instagram, you’ll know it’s been more than a year since the Kissed Earth co-founder and model had her explant surgery, a procedure to remove breast implants. But what Rachael hasn’t spoken openly about in depth before is that removing her implants was the final piece in healing her relationship with her body.
On the eve of her 34th birthday in July, Rachael reflects on the “rollercoaster journey” of her body image issues, which began when she was 15 and led to disordered eating. Before this, she’d been quite a sporty kid growing up in Townsville, participating in athletics and aspiring to compete at the Olympics in long jump and the 200-metre sprint. “Honestly, I felt like that was my path,” she says. Then, after entering a modelling competition, life took her in a totally different direction.
Between the influential years of 15 and 19, as her modelling career took off and she lived by herself in places like Singapore, New Zealand, New York, Germany and Hong Kong for work, Rachael started internalising a new message about her body.
“I went through a very unhealthy stage where I was over-exercising; I was under-eating. I was internalising that I was way too heavy and way too big. I had someone tell me, ‘If you lost five kilos, you’d be perfect for the runway.’ So I just took that [to heart].
“I remember for months and months, I was like, ‘Just got to lose these five kilos’. I was already maybe 57, 58kg at the time. And so losing five kilograms off that already lean frame would’ve been very, very lean and very thin. I got to a point where I was about 52kg. I was so light and I was eating so little.
Listen to Rachael Finch on our podcast Uninterrupted by Women’s Health Australia on Apple and Spotify. Post continues below.
“I was going to bed at seven o’clock and waking up at seven in the morning – 12 hours of sleep and I was still waking tired. I lost my menstrual cycle for over two years. I look back now and I think, ‘Well, of course [my cycle] wasn’t happening. My body wasn’t functioning the way it needed to, it wasn’t being given what it needed’.”
It was during this period that she got her breast implants too. She was only 17. “I have a very flat chest naturally; that’s just my body shape. I thought I needed to have the breast implants to balance out my body and be that ideal curvy, womanly [shape] in order to fit all of the dresses that I was modelling, or the swimwear, and have that perception of that perfect image.”
Over the past 10-plus years, Rachael has been slowly healing her relationship with her body. She’s internalised new beliefs and learnt how to nourish rather than deprive or punish her body. This is why the mum of two is sharing her story now: she wants to help reduce the stigma of eating disorders and encourage others to seek help. Here, she talks about her road to recovery, and how the lessons she’s learnt have influenced all aspects of her life, from her budding wellness empire to motherhood.
Was there a turning point that helped transform your view of yourself?
Rachael Finch: When I met [my husband] Misha [12 years ago on Dancing With The Stars]. He really opened my eyes to, “I don’t love you, because of the way you look… I love you, because of who you are as a person.” It [prompted] this self discovery: “Well, what is my self worth? Who am I as a person? And what do I really believe in?”
I found yoga and I started meditating. When I started to answer those questions and get in tune with my body, my whole attitude towards life, food and movement completely changed. That’s why I never like saying on my Instagram, ‘daily exercise’. I always say ‘daily movement’, because I don’t feel like it should be this hardcore, smashing yourself, harsh, strict, daily practice. You should do what makes you happy.
You should follow the rhythm of your body. And that’s going to be so different to the person next to you. It’s a long journey to discover what works best for your body. It takes so much experimentation. And then [there’s the need] to set those boundaries for you, and the people around you, and help people understand that this is what you want to be doing now, and then going ahead and doing it.
COVER CREDITS Photography: David Higgs. Hair & make-up: Crystal Tran.
Read the full interview with Rachael Finch in the July 2022 issue of Women’s Health Australia. Subscribe so that you never miss an issue.
