ITV’s Mark Austin reveals trauma of watching his daughter ‘shrinking away’ to 5st as she battled anorexia

NEWSREADER Mark Austin has revealed the heartbreak of watching his daughter “shrinking away” as she battled anorexia.

The ITV News presenter said she came close to organ failure as her weight tumbled to just 5½ stone.

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Mark, 58, and his wife tried private healthcare but said she was “force-fed” and became even more depressed.

He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “She was basically shrinking away before our eyes. She was there, but she was gone and it all happened very quickly.”

Mark said: “We thought we were losing her so we tried to get her help, but there wasn’t really the help there.”

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He said: “Within a period of four or five months, her weight dropped and she became dangerously ill.”

The dad of three turned to private healthcare. But he said: “It wasn’t the kind of care we wanted for her.

“There was force-feeding going on. There was all sorts of stuff making her even more depressed. We pulled her out and basically looked after her ourselves

“Had it not been for the fact that my wife is an A&E doctor I’m not sure what would have happened.

“She was getting close to organ failure.”

Mark, who is quitting ITV News at the end of 2016 after 30 years, said his daughter is now fine.

But he added: “We are heading towards an epidemic in mental health and there are not the resources there to deal with it.”