'Dirty secrets': Ex-sport minister says verbal abuse suffered as a child gymnast triggered her eating disorder

Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan, the former federal sport minister, says she's battled a lifelong eating disorder triggered by the verbal abuse she experienced as a child while training to be a gymnast.

In an exclusive interview with CBC News, Duncan described the emotional and psychological abuse she said she faced after she began her gymnastics training at age six.

"I have not experienced the horrific abuse that other athletes have suffered," she said. "But I do know what it's like to be weighed and shamed. I do know what it's like to be told to eat laxatives, toilet paper and water pills."

On Thursday, Duncan announced that, on the advice of doctors, she's taking medical leave effective immediately to deal with a health challenge.

She said she's telling her story now because she believes not enough is being done to protect young athletes in Canada. Duncan has made repeated calls for a national public inquiry into what she calls the "dirty secrets" of the sports world to expose the prevalence of abuse and find solutions.

"As someone who grew up in a broken system as an athlete, coach and judge, my first job is the health, safety and well-being of my athletes," she said.

"We need a national public inquiry. I will continue to push for it. I will continue to push because I will not be complicit."

Very early in her athletic career, Duncan said, she was dubbed the "fat gymnast" by coaches, judges and parents, even though she wasn't overweight by any standard. Those comments left scars that still hurt today, she added.

Duncan said the incessant barrage of comments about her "ugly weight" made her feel she was engaged in an impossible effort to stay as small as she possibly could. At times, she said, coaches would deny her food that some of her gymnastics friends were getting.

"And it wasn't just for the decade I was in sport. That thinking lasted a lifetime. And I know there are kids out there now who are hurting," she said.

Duncan said joining the national gymnastics team was her dream for years. She said she would lie awake at night going over her routines until she fell asleep.

Like a lot of kids at the time, she was captivated by Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, who made worldwide headlines with seven perfect tens at the Montreal Olympics in 1976.

"Gymnastics was my life. I trained six nights a week, four or five hours a night. Dance was on top of that. But my first love is gymnastics. I love to fly, I love to soar, and gymnastics allows you to do that," she said.

WATCH | 'I will not be complicit':