About Karen Carpenter

Introduction to Karen Carpenter. Her suffering from the disease and her death.

Karen Anne Carpenter was an American singer and drummer best known as being in the brother and sister duet called "The Carpenters".
Karen's vocal range is a contralto also known as the lowest female voice type.
She was very shy. Richard was her older brother and he was an inspiration to her. He studied music. He wrote a few songs and had Karen sing them. Turns out she could sing very well. Everyone was shocked that this shy girl could sing so very flawlessly.
Karen began preforming with her brother, Richard's band.
She sat behind the drums where she wouldn't really be front and center and sung. She sung "dancing in the street".
Karen was 5"4 with long brunette hair with a fringe. Her eyes were a deep brown color. She didn't wear much makeup.
Karen always felt that her brother Richard's accomplishments were much more praised then hers. She was always trying to do better and better. The Carpenters achieved fame. They sold many many records and preformed many concerts. Karen was getting more comfortable and walked around stage singing their greatest hits. "Rainy Days and Mondays, Superstar, We've Only Just Begun and Top of the World".
Everything seemed just grand. Karen looked quite healthy. But as years went on in 1978 was the cover of Rolling Stone magazine was when she was diagnosed with a very unknown disease called anorexia-nervosa. Her idea of looking like a pop star was to be thin as a stick. She disliked her wider hips which was hereditary. She thought she could loose a few more. After a interviewer called her chubby, things basically went downhill.
Some fans thought she had cancer. She successfully went on a diet called the stillman diet. By eating lean foods, drinking eight glasses of water a day and avoiding fatty foods. Seems pretty acceptable right? Not harmful to her! Her weight went down to 120 lbs. Karen stayed at that weight until 1973 when the Carpenters reached their peak. At most she was considered a little chubby. Also it was the 60s when the Twiggy figure was the trend. She suffered very poor self esteem and the lack of a relationship with her mother. Their mother always favored her brother. She basically felt unloved. Karen decided to employ a personal trainer to help her get back into shape and instead of loosing the weight she gained muscle and gained even more weight. She fired her trainer. While touring she did a workout routine and lost about 20 pounds. By then she was 110 pounds but that wasn't enough for her and she wanted to just loose five more pounds to be 105 pounds.

Very soon she began avoiding food whenever possible. It became more and more evident to her family and friends, although she did her best to hide it. She more it was noticed the more she denied her problem. In an effort to disguise her weight loss she began dressing in layers to look heavier then she was. In 1975, she began loosing weight very noticeably and suffered from utter exhaustion. After canceling the Carpenters European Tour she ended up in the hospital suffering from the debilitating effects of anorexia-nervosa. Although, she was said to be recovering she never gained control of her eating disorder and suffered from it for the rest of her life.
She also suffered from bulimia-nervosa which involved binge eating and purging which can be achieved by vomiting or taking laxatives. Karen was the first known celebrity to suffer from anorexia-nervosa. Her extreme weight loss left her needing a new wardrobe that included low cut silky gowns and strapless and backless gowns. Audiences were said to gasp upon first seeing her frail looking form onstage.
From being so exhausted she slept 14 to 16 hours a day. After an unsuccessful solo career, a marriages just what she needed. But her husband was not the man he portrayed to be. Days before or the day of the wedding he revealed to her that he could not have children. Karen who always dreamt of having a family of her own was devastated. She tried to call off the entire wedding but her mother insisted that she went through with it at the expense of her own daughter's happiness.
Just a year later, she filed for divorce. He was draining her of her fortune to fund his extravagant lifestyle.
She decided to focus on her recovery and began therapy and revealed that she was abusing laxatives and taking 80-90 each night. She also revealed that she was taking thyroid medicine to speed up her metabolism even though she had no thyroid problems.
Her mother was ashamed of her daughter's eating disorder and never reached out to offer any real support. At her lowest weight she was 79 pounds. On Friday, February 4th, 1983 she collapsed at her family's home. After being taken to the hospital she succumbed to her disease and was pronounced dead shortly after her arrival. She was just 32 years old. Karen was also using ipecac syrup to induce vomiting and she was eating but throwing it all up. It is used to induce vomiting in cases of poisoning or overdosing can also lead to death if abused.
Karen had unknowingly dissolved her own heart muscle with the syrup.