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Kara DioGuardi Opens Up About Eating Disorder

Kara DioGuardi was treated for an eating disorder, she admits in a new revealing interview.

"I've never spoken about this. I had kind of a binge eating disorder where, instead of dealing with my emotions, I would stuff them down with food," the American Idol judge tells Extra.

"I never threw up or starved myself," continues DioGuardi. "It was an eating disorder. I actually went into a treatment center for it...I would get up and eat in the middle of the night."

DioGuardi blames her food problems on insecurity while growing up.

"I really was a creative kid who didn't know she was creative and didn't have those outlets because I was always afraid to join the theater group and not perform," she says.

After she moved out to L.A. to become a songwriter, she became healthier.

"The moment I started doing music, the moment I did what I loved to do in my life and committed to it, I didn't have those problems anymore," she says. "I have my outlet. I have that form of expression. I can go to the studio and talk about my feelings."

But she still has moments of self doubt on Idol.

"I had this craziness in my head that I had to be perfect all the time and I face it now on Idol 25 years later," she admits. "It's kind of like, 'Oh god, why did I say that? Why did I do this?' But I made this commitment in my life to face my fears and if I am afraid of something, I make sure I do it."

DioGuardi built a studio at an L.A.-area treatment center, Phoenix House, where she now works with kids to help them find confidence. "It's real therapeutic," she says.