Evander Holyfield likes to win, but he’s not feeling confident about his latest undertaking.
And, if history is any indication, he has a right to be concerned.
The champion boxer and former “Dancing with the Stars” contestant admits his fifth place placement on the ABC show made him weary about participating in the Eating Disorder Information Network’s annual Celebrity Dance Challenge at the Buckhead Theatre on April 14.
Still, he says, winning in this challenge is more about helping people who are dealing with eating disorders than taking home a first place title.
The Atlanta boxer is just one of many local celebrities who are participating in the event.
Real estate agent Nancy Keenan is participating in the challenge this year following a year of struggling to help her 12-year-old daughter overcome an eating disorder. Her husband, Sean Keenan, co-owns Atlanta restaurants such as Front Page News and Napoleon’s.
After being hospitalized for starvation, Norrie Keenan was eventually diagnosed with Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, or ARFID, which ultimately led to her being admitted to a six-week inpatient treatment facility in South Carolina.
Norrie says she has a sensory processing disorder, which means eating often leads to “sensory overload” for her.
Eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is overwhelming because she can “taste every ingredient.”
One of Norrie Keenan’s goals following in-patient treatment has been to eat at one of her father’s restaurants without having anxiety.
Two weeks before the Celebrity Dance Challenge, Norrie was turning cartwheels and playing with puppies at Dance 101 as Nancy made preparations for the event.
Nancy said there are still days where she has to spoon feed Norrie, but admitted that she is doing much better than she was one year ago.
“I have my girl back,” Nancy said.
Still, the mother realizes her daughter might always struggle with an eating disorder.
The best thing about Norrie being so young, Nancy believes, is that she’s not ashamed of her eating disorder.
“It’s so neat to have someone who has no shame about having an eating disorder to be the voice of it,” she said.
Ofelia de La Valette, owner of Dance 101 and one of the event’s sponsors, said having Atlanta “tastemakers” such as Nancy Keenan participate in the event is special because it’s asking them to step out of their comfort zone for a good cause.
“They’re used to being good at what they do,” she said. “It takes bravery and courage [for participants] to agree to put themselves in an out-of-the-box experience,” she said.
Unlike “Dancing with the Stars,” dancing isn’t the only deciding factor in this competition.
Each celebrity is responsible for raising money by encouraging the public to vote for them. Each vote is $1.
So far the organization has raised $100,000 through voting and event sponsors. That’s more than double what the organization raised in 2015, according to event organizers.
One week before the event, Holyfield said he doesn’t have any personal experience with eating disorders, but credits his faith as a Christian for why he felt compelled to participate in this event.
“I wouldn’t be who I am if people didn’t help me,” he said.
If You Go: 8 p.m. April 14. $25-$150. Buckhead Theatre, 3110 Roswell Road, Atlanta. Myedin.org/cdc.
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