Allegra Beck (Donatella's daughter)

[esmereldagrubb]

Originally Posted by A*O

I can easily see how she got into this state. Her mother is fashion industry royalty where thin, thinner, thinnest DEFINES who you are. She is surrounded by fashion industry people who obsess about weight and judge you for it. I doubt her mother has any problem with the fact that her daughter conforms to what many fashion people (models, photographers, stylists, etc) condider 'normal'. While she remains in that environment and with those people, including her monstrous mother, Allegra doesn't stand a hope in hell of dealing with her illness.

agreed

Sadly, suicide is a bigger killer of anorectics than heart failure.

[miss_perfect]

Originally Posted by A*O

Didn't Karen Carpenter die from heart failure (caused by anorexia)?

Karen died because the hospitals did not know what to do with her. They thought if they just kept stuffing her with food she would be fine. She died because her body couldn't take the strain. Sure, it was her fault for being anorexic in the first place, but if she were alive today, even ten years ago, that never would have happened.

[lennonfan]

Originally Posted by miss_perfect

Karen died because the hospitals did not know what to do with her. They thought if they just kept stuffing her with food she would be fine. She died because her body couldn't take the strain. Sure, it was her fault for being anorexic in the first place, but if she were alive today, even ten years ago, that never would have happened.

I'm not sure you can fault someone for being anorexic, anymore than you can blame them for being depressed or bipolar.

[miss_perfect]

Umm, yeah you can. Bipolar disorder is a chemcial imbalance, and depression has both organic and environmental etiology. Anorexia is a choice. I've lived through it, I know others on this board have as well. It's up to you whether you let it run your life or not. Sure you might always live with it, but you don't have to let it kill you.

[WickedHo]

Originally Posted by A*O

I can easily see how she got into this state. Her mother is fashion industry royalty where thin, thinner, thinnest DEFINES who you are. She is surrounded by fashion industry people who obsess about weight and judge you for it. I doubt her mother has any problem with the fact that her daughter conforms to what many fashion people (models, photographers, stylists, etc) condider 'normal'. While she remains in that environment and with those people, including her monstrous mother, Allegra doesn't stand a hope in hell of dealing with her illness.

In the fashion industry, the clothes are what's important, not the model's health. As long as the clothes look good, that's enough. And the sad thing is, it's true. Look at that pic of her in the light blue (teal-ish) dress: the dress looks great, but Allegra looks like shit. This isn't to say I advocate anorexia, which Allegra clearly has.

[A*O]

Anorexia must start out as some kind of misguided choice - these girls must 'decide' at some point that they want to control their weight aka their lives by not eating. But surely it then becomes a compulsion, I hesitate to use the word addiction although it probably is, and once you are in that state of mind it's very hard to deal with.

[miss_perfect]

Originally Posted by A*O

Anorexia must start out as some kind of misguided choice - these girls must 'decide' at some point that they want to control their weight aka their lives by not eating. But surely it then becomes a compulsion, I hesitate to use the word addiction although it probably is, and once you are in that state of mind it's very hard to deal with.

You're totally right. When you're in treatment basically what they tell you is, "OK kid, you got yourself into this mess, but since you apparently can't manage it anymore, we're here to help you." Then you're given the cognitive/behavioral/nutritional tools to learn to stop hating yourself, and it's up to you what you do with them. Like any compulsion, you'll get over it when you're good and ready.

[saimamom]

I believe Karen Carpenter actually died from Ipecac abuse which lead to heart failure. If she binged she'd take Ipecac to make herself vomit. This lead to an electrolyte imbalance and probably other stuff. It caused heart failure, not just the anorexia/malnutrition.

[lennonfan]

Originally Posted by miss_perfect

Umm, yeah you can. Bipolar disorder is a chemcial imbalance, and depression has both organic and environmental etiology. Anorexia is a choice. I've lived through it, I know others on this board have as well. It's up to you whether you let it run your life or not. Sure you might always live with it, but you don't have to let it kill you.

Well, we'll have to disagree. I believe anorexia is just a particular symptom of mental illness and that certain people are more susceptible than others. It may seem like a choice when you start, but it is also technically an alcoholic's choice to take the original drink and probably no one anticipates that it will spiral out of control and they'll end up a drunk lying in the gutter. I think there's a strong genetic and environmental component to such things.

[esmereldagrubb]

Amen to that.

[SammysMom]

She is only 19 yrs old? She looks older.

[esmereldagrubb]

Yea, Anorexia will do that to ya.

[Tiara]

I actually know a girl who is the image of her! She's stick thin with false boobs tho, it looks weird! She said she loves being so 'dainty' and the guys love it, I don't think so, they'd probably be scared of snapping her!

I heard Donatella has a son, has anyone ever seen him or got any pics?

[calendargurl]

his name is Daniel but i couldnt find a pic of him.