Idol Katharine McPhee is a Recovering Bulimic

(andPOP) - Katharine McPhee, the runner-up on the latest season of "American Idol," has come out as a recovering bulimic.

The singer reveals her struggle with the eating disorder in the new issues of People and Teen People magazines, set to hit newsstands Friday and June 30 respectively.

McPhee says she first became aware of her body image at age 13, when she started to notice physical changes. After being a "stick" for her entire life, McPhee developed "womanly curves." It made her begin exercising compulsively and starving herself.

"I got more and more obsessed with trying to lose weight and looking like other 14- and 15-year-olds," she told Teen People. "I think it has to do with growing up in L.A. where more people are body-conscious."

McPhee first forced herself to throw up at 17. Though she told her mother and tried going through therapy, McPhee relapsed. The problem worsened when she got to college, with dorm-mates that encouraged the behaviour.

Her manager didn't help either, telling her, "Just lose 10 to 15 pounds, and we'll start booking stuff," she said.

When she started on "Idol," the 22-year-old was throwing up seven times a day, and realized she needed help.

She entered a program at the Los Angeles Eating Disorder Center of California in October so she could start shooting "Idol" in December. After group and individual therapy for six days a week, McPhee has lost her fear of "bad" foods and says she hasn't binged since two weeks before the therapy began.

"I was actually addressing the issue, not trying to lose weight," says McPhee, though she still doesn't consider herself completely healed. "I was letting my body do what it naturally wanted to do, by eating normally."