Freddie Flintoff – Living with Bulimia

In September 2020 the BBC released a documentary about how former England Cricketer Freddie Flintoff deals with Bulimia. The documentary is hard hitting and a tough watch for some, but it is great journalism.

What is good journalism?

Good journalism is about telling the truth and being engaging, using relevant facts. It’s also being able to engage with your audience, throughout the piece. In this case, it really informs viewers of what’s gone on and gives them everything they’re looking for.

Bulimia is something Flintoff has never opened up about before. It required being cautious and sensitive in how you approach this story, however it was done excellently. Bulimia is a severe eating disorder in which a lot of men struggle with. From the outside I would never have thought that Flintoff had gone through a struggle like this throughout most of his career. The documentary is informative and is a real eye opener into what is bulimia.

The most significant question asked in the documentary was why do men who suffer with bulimia not seek any professional help? Flintoff was honest throughout with his responses. It gave a really deep insight into how tough living with the disorder can be and how people are scared to talk about it. Also, other male sufferers of the disorder were similar to Flintoff and didn’t want to go to anyone for help. Flintoff stated that he kept the disorder away from any of his teammates and went through his whole career without mentioning it.

I was quite surprised at some of the access the production team got during making the documentary. The number of people who they spoke to that were in the same position of Flintoff and were willing to speak about it was surprising for me. The way the one family opened up to Flintoff about how their son died after suffering badly from bulimia was tough to watch. However, the family were honest in speaking to Flintoff and would’ve wanted to speak to him to raise awareness about the disorder. The interviewees were also willing to speak about their own struggles knowing that millions of people will be watching the documentary, this obviously takes a lot of courage to open up about something so big.

For me personally I don’t think there were any unanswered questions in the documentary.