Fashion model Isabelle Caro wanted the shocking images of her wasted body to serve as a warning to young women about the dangers of anorexia. Her gaunt frame, images of which have circulated widely on the Internet, “is everything but beauty, the complete opposite,” she said. But not everyone heeded her message. After news of her death became public, her photo appeared on an Internet forum beside the caption, “Die young, stay pretty.”
Caro, whose Nov. 17 death at age 28 was announced in late December, “struggled with anorexia since she was 13,” said the London Independent. Her low point came in 2006, when she was hospitalized in a coma, her 5-foot-4-inch frame weighing only 55 pounds. Born in Marseille, France, she began modeling during high school and was told by her agency to lose 20 pounds. “Despite her obviously frail physique,” she was never told to gain weight.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
provoked an international outcry and were banned by an Italian advertising watchdog agency. But Caro remained unapologetic. ��The idea was to shock people into awareness,” she said.
Caro served as a judge on a French version of America’s Next Top Model and wrote a memoir, The Little Girl Who Didn’t Want to Get Fat, published in 2008.
-
Are boomers the real phone addicts?In The Spotlight There’s an ‘explosion in screentime’ among older people – and they’re more vulnerable to misinformation
-
West End Girl: a ‘tremendously touching’ break-up albumThe Week Recommends Lily Allen’s unfiltered new work is ‘littered with relatable moments’
-
Are car headlights are too bright?The Explainer 82% of UK drivers concerned about being ‘dazzled’ as LED bulbs become more common
-
R&B singer D’AngeloFeature A reclusive visionary who transformed the genre
-
Kiss guitarist Ace FrehleyFeature The rocker who shot fireworks from his guitar
-
Robert Redford: the Hollywood icon who founded the Sundance Film FestivalFeature Redford’s most lasting influence may have been as the man who ‘invigorated American independent cinema’ through Sundance
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacyFeature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
Giorgio Armani obituary: designer revolutionised the business of fashionIn the Spotlight ‘King Giorgio’ came from humble beginnings to become a titan of the fashion industry and redefine 20th-century clothing
-
Ozzy Osbourne obituary: heavy metal wildman and lovable reality TV dadIn the Spotlight For Osbourne, metal was 'not the music of hell but rather the music of Earth, not a fantasy but a survival guide'
-
Brian Wilson: the troubled genius who powered the Beach BoysFeature The musical giant passed away at 82
-
Sly Stone: The funk-rock visionary who became an addict and recluseFeature Stone, an eccentric whose songs of uplift were tempered by darker themes of struggle and disillusionment, had a fall as steep as his rise
