She described how she always tries to eat at ceremonial luncheons so that success will not be equated with starvation.

“I say to girls I meet, if you want me to help you with a college application, great. But if you want me to show you how to use mascara, forget it,” Harold said. “Beauty has to be backed up with something more substantial.”

Whether concerned with the detrimental effects of the media or mascara, all three speakers returned finally to the theme of eating disorder as cipher for more deeply-rooted emotional issues.

Knapp spoke of her sister’s hunger as an “agent of denial” for family love she felt was withheld in childhood, while Harold said her multi-ethnic background led to painful schoolyard taunts.

Halliwell, who dismissed a question from the audience which alluded to her allegedly tumultuous relationship with the other Spice Girls as a possible catalyst for her eating problems, said, “It’s so easy to blame somebody. But ultimately I realized the self-loathing driving my image issues was really just pride in reverse.”

The forum was co-sponsored by the Eating Concerns Hotline and Outreach at the College, the Graduate School of Education and the Office of the Dean of Students at the Law School.

—Staff writer Amelia E. Lester can be reached at lester@fas.harvard.edu.