More Life with Carl Radke
More Life with Carl Radke

Remi Bader on TikTok Stardom, Body Image, & Mental Health in the Spotlight

June 23, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Remi Bader: The Messy Middle of Body Image, Fame, and Healing in Public

The night Remi Bader called the suicide hotline, no one picked up. That was her rock bottom before TikTok fame—screaming at her father on the phone because he told her binge eating disorder wasn't real, breaking her phone and shot glasses in her room, sending scary texts to friends. Then six people showed up at her apartment. That moment, she says, taught her something she still holds onto: "You hit rock bottom and things will always work out." It's not a platitude for her. It's a pattern she's lived through multiple times since.

The Family Origin of Food Shame

Bader grew up in a household where diet culture was the operating system. Her mother worked at Weight Watchers for 15 years. There was a literal scale on the kitchen table. Her father would offer her a thousand dollars to lose twenty pounds and warn her that if she kept eating certain foods, she'd never find a boyfriend. She started dieting at age ten.

"I don't think they're bad people," she says carefully. "I just think that it unfortunately did affect me in a way that I thought about food and things so differently growing up."

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Listen to Audio Summary Open in App

What you'll learn

  • 1 (01:56) **Trust the Timing of Your Life** - Remi shares her personal mantra and how it helps her navigate career uncertainty and disappointment.
  • 2 (02:51) **The Reality of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit** - Remi breaks down the structure of the issue, including the multiple covers, and describes the surreal experience of the photoshoot.
  • 3 (05:45) **Pre-TikTok Remi: From Indiana to Bravo** - Remi recounts her college transfer story, rushing 21 sororities and getting zero bids, which led her to a better-fit university.
  • 4 (08:34) **Getting Let Go from Bravo** - Remi opens up about the shame and anxiety of being fired from her dream job, a pivotal moment that felt like rock bottom at the time.
  • 5 (10:40) **A Pivot to Music and the Start of COVID** - Remi shares how she landed a job at Tidal, a music company, which she enjoyed more, before the pandemic upended everything.
  • 6 (15:34) **The Family Roots of Body Image Struggles** - Remi connects her eating disorder to her upbringing, describing how her parents' "diet mentality" and comments about her weight were pushed on her from a young age.
  • 7 (17:00) **A Childhood of Diets and a Scale on the Table** - Remi details growing up on every diet imaginable from age 10, including her mom's job at Weight Watchers and a literal food scale on the kitchen table.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Creator, founder, and size-inclusivity and mental health advocate Remi Bader joins Carl in the More Life studio. She opens up about landing in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, getting let go from her first jobs at Bravo and Tidal, how her TikTok blew up overnight, and her honest, ongoing journey with binge eating, recovery, and weight loss surgery. Remi and Carl get real about navigating mental health in public, handling the internet's opinions, dating, and why the right people in your corner change everything.


Remi has recommended a couple resources if you are looking for more information on any of the topics covered in this episode:

https://jedfoundation.org/helplines-for-specific-identities/

https://www.allianceforeatingdisorders.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Brain-over-Binge-Conventional-Recovered/dp/0984481702


Sponsors:

Pura: Explore the Scents of Calm Collection at pura.com/calm. Use code RADKE for 15% off your first order

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More Life with Carl Radke

More from this podcast

More Life with Carl Radke →