Lady Gaga has been very outspoken in encouraging her devoted fans, her “Little Monsters,” to accept themselves the way they are. On Tuesday, the pop star took an important step in reaching out to women of all ages who are struggling with eating disorders.

Lady Gaga posted on her website some not-so-flattering, un-retouched photos of herself in just a bra and panties, revealing her recent weight gain. The caption read, “Bulimia and anorexia since I was 15.”

Lady Gaga invited fans to join “A Body Revolution,” with this message: “My mother and I created the BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION for one reason: ‘to inspire bravery.’ This profile is an extension of that dream. Be brave and celebrate with us your “perceived flaws,” as society tells us. May we make our flaws famous, and thus redefine the heinous.”

Not that Lady Gaga is always happy about her own weight. Recently, she told radio host Elvis Duran, “I’m dieting right now because I gained, like, 25 pounds. I really don’t feel bad about it, not even for a second. I have to be on such a strict diet constantly. It’s hard because it’s a quite vigorous show, so I tend to bulk up, get muscular, and I really don’t like that. So I’m trying to find a new balance.”  

Lady Gaga isn’t the only celebrity to admit to dealing with bulimia. On Monday, TV host Katie Couric devoted her show to eating disorders and revealed, “I wrestled with bulimia all through college and for two years after that.”  

Couric later told the Associated Press, “Like a lot of young women, I was struggling with my body image and feeling like I wasn’t good enough or attractive enough or thin enough.”

“Some periods were worse than others, when I was binging and purging a lot. I’d have a piece of gum that wasn’t sugarless and then say, ‘Oh! I’ve been bad,’ and then feel so terrible that I would eat and throw up. It was awful.”

Hopefully, the admissions of these two famous ladies will encourage women suffering from eating disorders to seek help.