Ke$ha’s mother has blamed pressure from music industry advisors — Dr Luke included — for her daughter’s health problems.
The pop singer recently announced she’d entered rehab for an undisclosed eating disorder. But in an interview with People, Pebe Sebert reveals her daughter has been suffering with bulimia, and that the situation came to a head before Christmas when Ke$ha “had a breakdown.”
She also takes aim at those around her daughter — including the producer, Dr Luke. “Dr. Luke had been telling her how she had to get in shape and lose weight and all this stuff. She was exercising and dieting and ultimately doing everything she could, but not getting thin fast enough,” Sebert tells People.com. “And that’s when she first became bulimic.”
Ke$ha’s mom goes on to tell People that Dr. Luke “told a friend of ours he thought she looked like a refrigerator” in her latest video.
Dr Luke has denied the claims. “These statements and allegations concerning Dr. Luke are completely false,” his reps say in a statement issued to the celebrity title. “It is unfortunate that at a time Ke$ha is suffering immensely and trying to heal at a treatment center, her mother is taking this approach with the media. I give Ke$ha my utmost support and well wishes for a quick return to health.”
It’s been a particularly eventful week for Ke$ha, one that has seen her single with Pitbull, “Timber,” top the sales chart on both sides of the Atlantic. The track climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after spending four weeks at No. 2. It also grabbed the No. 1 position on the U.K. singles chart, the first of 2014. It’s her third time at the pinnacle of the U.K. chart, first with Flo Rida in 2009 on “Right Round” and again in 2011 with “We R Who We R.”
Ke$ha and Pitbull canceled their October/November tour of Australia just two weeks out from the first show. No firm reason was given at the time.