New: The Mary-Kate Anorexia Page
The Psycho-Dramatization Of (Ironically Rich & Famous & Has It All) Poor Mary-Kate
The Mary-Kate Olsen sickness, addiction, disorder story rages on... with enough force that even Brittney should be embarrassed that her engagement isn't winning over in the war of the press...
And the Dairy Council has pulled the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen "Got Milk?" ad... unknowingly cutting itself off from the small but obsessive group of anorexia worshippers, likely to drink milk in a valient effort to mirror the anorexic star...
And the rumors fly about cocaine use... (yes, I'm sure she's used cocaine... when I was anorexic I used cocaine...)
which ought not be that shocking, really, there is an abnormally high number of people with eating disorders who also suffer with substance abuse...
And I find an irony in the number of magazine covers you can now find Mary-Kate on, having accomplished the offical "separation" of the former inter-changeable Olsen twin sisters, by standing out with problems that a great number of otherwise kind-hearted, savvy young women and men suffer...
She could use this, potentially, with her insane level of fame, to raise awareness, speak-out, educate and encourage recovery...
Perhpas she could catapult the disturbing current lack of eating disorder awareness, education and prevention programs in elementary, junior and senior high schools, into their over-due assembly equivilant of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, bullying, suicide prevention, HIV education, don't-drink-and-drive, school violence, anti-smoking, date rape protection and gang affiliation programs that are already funded and in full swing around our media-obsessed country...
Or perhaps this representative of youth culture media could convey the dire importance of making media literacy mandatory in basic education. You see, it is required that junior and high school students take literature and learn to analyze, critique and read-into books, stories, plays and sonnets... yet they are not asked to analyze, critique and read-into magazines, television, movies, billboards or commercials... which are all a much bigger part of their lives, with a much larger influence on their lives, than Shakespear ever will be.
the dissappearing Mary-Kate...
another piece in the pie of the Mary-Kate "Cocaine and Anorexia" Parade...
New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
OLSEN BATTLING DEMON
BY TRACY CONNOR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2004
After months of denying rumors she's anorexic, bone-thin tween queen Mary-Kate Olsen has checked herself into a program for eating disorders.
The brunette half of the Olsen Twins money machine "entered a treatment facility to seek professional help for a health-related issue," spokesman Michael Pagnotta said yesterday. "She is thankful for the encouragement and support of her friends and family, who are with her every step of the way."
A source confirmed that the 18-year-old actress is suffering from an eating disorder, and Us Weekly magazine identified it as life-threatening anorexia.
"It was a preemptive strike. Mary-Kate wanted to take charge of her life," an insider told the magazine. "She's been very brave. She is trying to get healthy."
Mary-Kate and her sister Ashley, who have been in show business since they starred on the sitcom "Full House" as infants, are the wholesome heroines of the ponytailed set.
They are worth $300 million and have a new movie, "New York Minute," playing at multiplexes across the country. They just turned 18 and are slated to start college at NYU in the fall.
But for months, the big news about the darling duo has been Mary-Kate's vanishing act.
Her twig-like arms and legs and the bones jutting out of her back have drawn stares and whispers at every red-carpet event - and heated denials from the teen.
The 5-foot-2 waif even poked fun at the hubbub about her incredible shrinking body during a May 15 appearance on "Saturday Night Live." Posing as a photographer, she yelled out to an extra playing herself: "You're too skinny. Eat a sandwich!"
But experts say anorexia - the illness that killed pop singer Karen Carpenter at age 33 - is nothing to laugh at. If left untreated, it can cause low blood pressure, low body temperature, liver problems, osteoporosis, loss of menstruation, brain atrophy and even death.
An inpatient treatment program followed by outpatient therapy is a patient's best shot at beating the disorder, doctors say. And what of Ashley? Friends say she's completely supportive of her sister, and they predict Mary-Kate will get the help she needs.
"She's going to survive," director-producer Michael Kruzan told Us. "She's tough."
http://www.nbc11.com/entertainment/3447296/detail.html
