Does Charlie have an eating disorder in Heartstopper Season 2? We discuss a key plot point in the Netflix series.
Joe Locke and Kit Connor star as the love birds Charlie and Nick in the heartwarming coming-of-age series Heartstopper. The popular Netflix series based on the graphic novel written by Alice Oseman returned for a second season with Charlie and Nick diving headfirst into their newfound love.
Throughout season 2 of Heartstopper, love was in the air for several couples. First, Charlie and Nick continued that puppy love stage of their relationship where everything that they did, they wanted to be in each other’s bubble.
Then, Darcy and Tara faced some formidable obstacles, including Darcy running away from home, but everything led to the two telling each other they loved one another.
Of course, we had Elle and Tao, two best friends that aren’t sure if they wanted to ruin their friendship to chase love but ultimately decided to anyway.
Despite all the happiness our favorite couple, Charlie and Nick, had found, they faced many challenges throughout the second season, from Nick struggling to come out to the rest of his family and friends to Nick starting to realize a specific trend when Charlie would eat.
We look deeper into Charlie and some of the potential diagnoses and internal battles he faces due to some past wounds.
Does Charlie have an eating disorder in Heartstopper?
Although he isn’t formally diagnosed in the series with having an eating disorder, a critical storyline that develops throughout season two of Heartstopper is Nick noticing his lack of eating. In one scene, while on their field trip in Paris, Charlie lets some anxiety get the best of him, leading to him passing out. Part of the reason was his lack of eating.
When Nick confronts Charlie on it, Charlie States that he has had issues with bouncing back on many things as a direct result of the homophobic bullying that he went through after coming out.
At the end of the season, Nick asks Charlie to be better about it and promises that if he has issues, he will be open about what is happening.
What is Charlie diagnosed with in Heartstopper?
As a direct result of his toxic relationship with Ben, which included being bullied, outed, and abused, Charlie is diagnosed with anxiety, depression, anorexia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
What does Charlie develop after he gets his anorexia under control?
In the book, once Charlie is able to get his anorexia under control, he starts to suffer from body dysmorphia. As a direct result of it, he wears baggy clothes, and it causes him some issues in being intimate with Nick.
In the Netflix series, we’ve only begun to explore Charlie’s eating issues and Nick taking notice of them. With the season ending with the two having an emotional conversation about it, we can only expect to see them explore body dysmorphia in the next season of Heartstopper.
