More on Tracy Anderson and Anorexia for Chuckles?

The Indianapolis Monthly online has a long and sordid story detailing the legal and moral misdeeds of celebrity trainer, Tracy Anderson. Financial mis-dealings, potential fraud, bankruptcy, dodgy health practices, leaning on charisma, and more. Anderson, 32, and 90lbs is a "perfect size zero" and as we at Fat Feminist Fitness Blog have discussed before, she claims that "anyone can look like Madonna" with her method. Its worth the read, but more important her example is worth the lesson: her primary business strategy seemed to be to project a perfect image, to "fake it until you make it" of sorts, but on the backs of others, bleeding some business partners and lovers dry in order to get into the upper eschaleons where she could then befriend Hollywood types that could help her make her brand. Do you really want to entrust your health to Ms. Anderson or other celebrity trainers who push the boundaries of sensible diet and exercise? Hopefully not. Yet another reason NOT to follow trendy diet or fitness routines--find what is healthy and doable for you, but please, don't listen to Ms. Anderson just so you can "look like Madonna."

Oh, and this follows on the heels of another terribly depressing article featured in that denizen of trash, The Daily Mail. Liz Jones, a self-professed anorexic discusses the "horror" of trying to eat "like a normal person" for three weeks. Its a disgusting ploy by her employers at the Daily Mail to show how funny it is for a woman with a serious eating disorder (serious mental health condition) to be forced to eat scones. Jezebel has a responsible discussion of the article, honestly, it was too much for me to take in the original, so trigger warning.

One of the most heart-breaking quotes:

"Being this way made me not just socially awkward, but unlovable: I've always hated being touched, hugged, naked, half-dressed on holiday, in case I'm found wanting, in case someone felt or saw an extra ounce of flesh. Being this thin meant I never got pregnant; I have menstruated perhaps half-a-dozen times in my life...In fact, I was always fearful of getting pregnant because the thought of my stomach growing fat, of stretch marks and a big bum, was not a price I was willing to pay for a child. The whole process seemed messy, dirty, greedy."

This woman doesn't need press space, she needs serious care--private, medically accurate, care. Menstruating only a few times in life, multiple hospitalizations, panic inducing fears of food, etc. These are not just "boderline" as she calls them, symptoms, but full blown anorexia. She's 40, but its not too late for her to get help and its certainly not to late for publications like the Daily Mail to get a sense of ethics and not exploit the sick for truly sick gags--like "how funny would it be to make an anorexic eat scones and jam?"