Olivia Ponton is getting real about the realities of body image — and hoping her honesty helps someone else feel a little less alone.
The model, content creator and podcast host recently sparked a conversation online after opening up about her past struggles with eating disorders in a candid TikTok, challenging misconceptions about anorexia and what it really means to be healthy. For Ponton, the message is personal: after years of navigating her own relationship with food and her body, she wants younger girls to know that restrictive eating isn’t the shortcut to confidence they might think it is.
“I’ve gone through my own many roller coasters of eating disorders,” Ponton told Celeb Secrets during a recent sit-down at Raising Cane‘s first-ever location, aka “The Mothership” in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “Making it aware that that is not healthy nor normal, and, like, doing that is not going to get you to the body that you want.”
Her decision to speak out came as she reflected on the phrase “training like an Angel” ahead of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show — a concept she said had a major influence on her when she was younger. After sharing workout-related content and seeing the conversations that followed, Ponton felt compelled to address the pressure surrounding modeling, fitness and the expectation to look a certain way.
In her TikTok, she explained that one of the biggest misconceptions about models is that they don’t eat, pushing back against the idea that being thinner automatically means being healthier or happier. Looking back on her own experience with anorexia, she said the reality was far from what she once imagined.
“When I was going through the height of my eating disorders, I have never looked worse,” she shared in the video, explaining that her body wasn’t responding the way she had expected.
Today, Ponton says she has worked toward a healthier relationship with herself, prioritizing sleep, nourishing meals and consistent movement rather than restrictive habits. And while getting to that place took time, she’s grateful to be able to share what she’s learned with the audience that’s grown alongside her.
“I’ve just, I’ve gone through my own many roller coasters of eating disorders,” she told us, emphasizing the importance of helping young girls understand that their well-being matters more than chasing an unrealistic ideal.
“Being healthy is the hottest you could ever be,” she added.
It’s a message she hopes reaches the girls who might be struggling quietly, especially those who see models and influencers online and assume they have to change their bodies to measure up. Ponton knows firsthand how powerful those comparisons can be, which is part of why she feels so strongly about being transparent.
During her TikTok, she explained that she wishes she’d had someone on social media openly discussing the dangers of restrictive eating while she was experiencing it herself. Now, she wants to be that person for someone else.
And she’s already seeing the impact.
For Ponton, some of the most meaningful feedback doesn’t come through likes, views or comments. It happens when a fan approaches her in public and shares how something she’s posted has affected them.
“I think, like, when people come up to me in the street and they talk to me about how, like, certain things that I posted have moved them in certain ways, it’s, like, that always means the most,” she told Celeb Secrets. “That just, like, it really changes, like, the course of your day,” she said.
Of course, she’s also been embracing some exciting career milestones lately. Her podcast, Booked, Blonde & Busy, has been opening doors to a new side of entertainment, including interviews with Verity stars Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett.
“It’s like every day, I’m… Like, I just wake up when I’m doing these interviews, and I’m like, ‘What am I doing?’ Like me, you want me to ask you questions?” she joked to Celeb Secrets about getting to sit down with some of Hollywood’s biggest names.
Ponton described the experience as surreal, particularly when she realized just how much she could learn from the actors she had watched on screen.
One moment that made her especially giddy? Hathaway playfully telling her she was “so happy” that she was on Booked, Blonde & Busy.
“I was like, ‘Don’t mind if I do,'” Ponton recalled with a laugh.
Aside from finding her footing in a new lane that’s beyond her established modeling career, the 24-year-old is also celebrating a major fashion moment with her Ocean Drive Magazine cover, which came after a colorful, beachside shoot in the Hamptons.
“The outfits were super colorful and crazy, and I loved it,” she said of the experience, describing a day filled with beautiful scenery, a welcoming team and high-energy vibes.
The cover reveal itself was a moment she won’t soon forget. After spotting it displayed at the hotel, Ponton later asked a restaurant hostess if she could have a copy — only for the woman to look at the cover, look back at her and realize she was speaking to the woman featured on it.
“And I was like, ‘Hi,'” she recalled, laughing at the surreal encounter.
Looking ahead to 2027, Ponton told Celeb Secrets that she wants to pursue opportunities she’s dreamed about for years but was once too nervous to go after.
“I really want to focus on the things that I’ve been wanting for years, but I’ve always been too nervous to, like, actually go out there and, like, fight for them and be like, ‘I belong,’ in whatever industry it may be,” she said. “Like, I wanna make my spot there.”
For more coverage on Raising Cane’s, click here.
