Exorcising her personal demon

Sunday, May 14, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.

Scarlett Pomers, co-star of the WB's "Reba," wants people to know about eating disorders.

She didn't.

At 5-foot-4, the 17-year-old normally weighs about 100 pounds. But late last year she checked herself into a treatment center - she was 73 pounds. She had suffered from anorexia for about a year.

"People with eating disorders often are afraid to talk about their problem," Pomers said during a recent telephone interview from her home in Los Angeles. "From personal experience, I know - I felt a lot of guilt."

She completed her treatment in January and since then has begun a campaign to bring the issue to the forefront. As many as 10 million people in the United States may suffer from an eating disorder, according to the National Eating Disorders Association.

"Eating disorders in general are very prevalent all over the world," Pomers said. "People either have a lot of misconceptions about them, or they don't know anything at all about them."

Helping her get the word out is her uncle, musician Jak Paris, who moved to Las Vegas from Southern California almost three years ago. Together they have created "Project Chains," a three-song CD that includes the 1977 Fleetwood Mac number "The Chain."

Pomers, an aspiring rock singer as well as actress, sings "The Chain" and "Valentine," a song she wrote. The third number on the CD is "Overrated," written and performed by Paris.

The CD is being used to raise money for Pomers' Arch-Angel Fund, which is part of the National Eating Disorders Association.

On Thursday Pomers and Paris will perform at an NEDA benefit at the BB King Blues Club in Los Angeles.

"Something like a music project is a good way to get people's attention," Pomers said. "Everybody has an interest in music - from there they can learn about eating disorders - that it is a disease, not just a phase some people go through."

Pomers, who has acted in several TV shows and films, traces her anorexia to Christmas a few years ago.

"I gained a couple of extra pounds eating Christmas food," she said. "It started out that I just wanted to get back to the way I used to look - but at the same time things in my life were getting stressful; I was having problems with relationships."

Suddenly, she was focusing on eating - or not eating - and exercising.

"That becomes your focus 24 hours a day," Pomers said. "It's easier to blame your problems on something to do with your weight than focusing on the main issues."

She said something that started out innocently enough turned ugly.

"It's the way it happens to a lot of people," Pomers said. "It becomes an obsession."

She said before then, she never had an issue with her body.

"I was never concerned about calories, never obsessed with dieting - no one in my family had eating problems," Pomers said.

The illness took its toll gradually.

"It didn't happen too fast - over the course of a summer I would lose and gain and when I gained I would freak out and lose again," Pomers said. "I didn't think I had anorexia. I thought I was just going through a weird phase.

"It wasn't until the fall of last year that it became incredibly extreme and I couldn't deny it anymore."

She began researching anorexia.

"When it got bad, I broke down and told my mother what was going on - it was so out of control," Pomers said. "I tried to get well on my own, but it was just too hard."

She said when she first entered the clinic she resisted treatment.

"Anorexia was so en-trenched," she said. "Even though I went through the program during the day, I was still trying to exercise off all the calories I was putting on."

But, she said, eventually the program worked.

"You have to be comfortable knowing you can take care of yourself and feel good about it," Pomers said.