'No Anorexia' model Isabelle Caro dies aged 28

[Elmore Furth]

I feel pain for those who must die to achieve some perfection.

A French model who posed nude for an anti-anorexia campaign while suffering from the illness herself has died at the age of 28, her colleagues confirm.

Isabelle Caro died on 17 November after being treated for an acute respiratory illness, Swiss singer Vincent Bigler told journalists.

He added that he did not know the exact cause of death.

Ms Caro appeared in posters for an anti-anorexia campaign in 2007, but the ads were banned in several countries.


'No Anorexia' model Isabelle Caro dies aged 28

[msongs]

1. maybe just like Karen Carpenter nt

[wordpix]

2. looks like she died of anorexia to me - that is deathly skinny

[toddwv]

10. Anorexia can lead to respiratory dysfunction

It can result from the extreme malnutrition that the condition causes.

[redwitch]

3. 32 kg= 70 lbs.

The photo is shocking. So sad.

[BrklynLiberal]

6. That is horrifying....She must have been in so much pain...emotionally and physically.

[Travelman]

4. What a shame.

Too bad she wasn't able to beat this terrible illness. I am utterly convinced that the entire modeling industry is single-handedly responsible for the majority of anorexia cases worldwide. The industry really should do more to counter this image of "perfection" in starvation. It's unconscionable that they let this perception continue to permeate little girls' (mostly) minds as somehow a goal to attain.

[girl gone mad]

12. She was never a fashion model.

She became anorexic at a very young age as the result of childhood trauma, not because of media influences or fashion industry pressure.

She modeled in anti-anorexia billboards. Google the images and tell me you think she could have had a career on the runway or in advertisements.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. How sad forherfamily and friends. Hopefully her message will have saved some lives...

[etherealtruth]

7. Tragic disease

Yet our culture and media exacerbate disorders like these by the implication that ridiculously thin is what is and should be attractive for women.

Sad

[cutlassmama]

8. "recently very tired"...sounds like anorexia to me

[enough]

9. I admire her bravery in working for anti-anorexia, even as it was killing her.

The photo is shocking, but may have long term influence. RIP Isabelle.

[madmax]

11. Dying to be beautiful

A damn shame. :cry: Very brave of her to pose for that poster.

[frazzled]

15. The disease is not about being beautiful

Please don't spread that myth: most young girls want to be beautiful and many even diet, very few starve themselves to death. Anorexia is a form of mental illness: it involves highly distorted perceptions about the world (and in this case, of one's own body) and often, a compulsion toward perfectionism.

I say this because I have a lot of experience with the illness. I was anorexic many years ago as an adolescent, long before the doctors even could identify it. I ended up weighing 68 pounds before I was thrown in the hospital. I was lucky that eventually someone understood it was a psychological not a physical problem, and I somehow managed to get out of it through therapy, though I struggled for quite a few years. When I started not to eat it was not to be beautiful but to be transcendant: I wanted to distinguish myself in some way. What did everyone do? They ate. I would be better than that: I would not eat. Eventually it becomes a kind of euphoria, and you have no idea how horrible you look nor how weak you really are. You become deceitful, hiding food from those trying to help you and ... well, it's a mess.

Some are lucky to get better. Some, like this poor young woman, succumb to the illness. I don't like making personal confessions on line, but this is serious, so I thought I should back it up with my own story. (P.S.: I've been healthy for forty years now, and I love eating more than anything on earth!).

[madmax]

16. Thank you for sharing

it must have been very painful for you but, you survived and give voice to a disease that many people, myself included don't understand. Sounds like a long and not so easy journey. I apologize. :hug:

[Alameda]

17. for some it is. My mother was an anorexic. She was always

proud of how thin she was. She was a model in her youth. I've known other women with anorexia, in fact I was very close to it myself. People go to extremes to stay thin. Why do you think so many women smoke? They don't see it. When I was super thin, I thought it was wonderful. It was only after seeing photographs of myself and not being able to sit or lay down comfortably I was able to see.

I wish I'd kept on my friend who died of it. She looked like this woman. She was always worried about gaining weight. Telling her she was too thin didn't work. A serious intervention was needed, but she didn't get it and she died too young, My mother's bones were dissolving from osteoporosis.

[Lorien]

23. When I was dealing with it as a teen it was about believing that I didn't deserve

to eat, and the fact that I wanted to disappear from the world. I know that many others who have fought with the disease felt the same way.

[frazzled]

27. Maybe it's a variation on a theme

Thinking you don't deserve something is a kind of perfectionism--you've set up an impossible ideal. My feeling was that of trying to transcend the real world; yours was disappearing from it. Also two variations on a theme.

I'm glad you didn't disappear.

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. I had a friend years ago who was anorexic and pregnant

It was a horrible thing to watch. Our friendship eventually fell apart after she had her baby, who was born with multiple birth defects.

[auntsue]

13. for some insight on the pain of this disorder

read Portia de Rossi's book Unbearable Lightness. It is well done and so brave in its honesty.

[Canuckistanian]

14. She was like this from the age of 13

I really consider this a mental condition more than a physiological one. She's obviously tried to gain weight and failed.

Fuck the fashion industry for promoting and encouraging her. I think all those art directors and designers who hired her are ghouls.

[pitohui]

18. v. sorry to hear it

her fight is finished now, may she sleep well and have peace

she did try to speak out before the end, she knew that her disease was killing her

[dixiegrrrrl]

19. If you google her name and then images, there are quite a few shocking pics

but I will not post them here.
too sad, too horrifying.

[Stuart G]

22. She is not the only one...this is one of the most underreported

diseases of all. Tens of thousands of people right here in this country have it.
And recovery is very very difficult. My heart goes out to all who struggle with either anorexia or bulemia..
Both of which are very dangerous.

[DonCoquixote]

20. I am sure I will be called sexist

But frankly, the whole fashion industry is evil, to the core. Let's see, you have a bunch of designers, many of whom are misogynist (even those that happen to be female) defining what women should look like. Add to this they pick tall, thin women who (and yes, here is the sexist part) do NOT look like most women, at ALL! Then, every actress or executive who wants to be taken seriously has to conform to their crap!

I remember how some Muslim women told me they actually prefer the traditional clothes, not because they were "submissive" (and I assure you, these ladies wore the proverbial "pants" in their house) but because they found "western" fashion to be misogynistic.

No, I am a Latino. despite the number of Latino models, I can assure you, not only do few Latino women look like models, we actually do no want them to look like models. A six foot 2, 85 pound Latina is not considered sexy, but sick. Not saying we glamorize fat, but we fall more in line with Rubens models than Kate Moss.

All the same, Fashion sucks, especially nowadays. It was one thing for a Coco Chanel, an orphan, to focus so well on style that nobles tried to look like her. It is another for many of today's fashion designers and models, many of whom are train wrecks waiting to happen.

[seabeyond]

28. a clue in

i saw no sexism even the part you declare is sexist. lol.

[DonCoquixote]

29. Thanks

although some would

[Dash87]

30. Hi DonCoquixote. Definitely agree to a point.

I didn't think what you wrote was sexist at all. :)

[malaise]

21. Looks like she died of hunger

Good effing grief!!

[eridani]

24. Anorexia has a fairly high death rate n/t

[The Straight Story]

25. kick (nt)