Little Girl Blue-Karen Carpenter bio

[talia]

I was perusing memoirs and biographies at Amazon and came across this recently published booked...

Little Girl Blue-The Life of Karen Carpenter by Randy Schmidt

Little Girl Blue reveals Karen's heartbreaking struggles with her mother, brother, and husband; the intimate disclosures she made to her closest friends; her love for playing drums and her frustrated quest for solo stardom; and the ups and downs of her treatment for anorexia nervosa. After her shocking death at 32 years of age in 1983, she became the proverbial poster child for that disorder; but the other causes of her decline are laid bare for the first time in this moving account.

I have not read the book yet, but the commentary/reviews really caught my eye:

Agnes-Karen's mother
Harold-Karen's father

Even after KC's death there was a masquerade going on - even her MEMORY was forced to wear a plastic smile, and pretend that all was well. Her pain was never validated, in her life or after her death. Until now - Thanks to this book.

Well, based on what the people involved in Karen's biopic said, it seemed to me that Richard was so used to the dysfunction in the family (of which Agnes was the source) that he didn't even realize how his mom's behavior would be perceived by an ordinary person

Agnes wanted her kids to be emotionally dependent on her. I mean, look how long it took for them to move out. Having grown up with that, I imagine that would be difficult for Richard to take a step back and realize his mom's effect on Karen and on himself as well. Being told that you're number one all through your life while being showered with unconditional praise isn't beneficial in the long run. I remember Richard insisting in the Coleman that Agnes didn't treat Karen differently from how she treated him. Hmm...To be honest, I don't know if he's admitted to himself the damage his mother did, based on how he seems to be totally oblivious as to the probable cause of Karen's illness. So I don't think he's trying to white wash her actions as much as I think he's in denial.

I now feel that she did know deep down that she was in huge part responsible for her daughter's death-but didn't want to lose face or want anyone else to know.When she jumped in front of her housekeeper when Barry Morrow came to interview her,before the poor man didn't even get a word out.And here she was,blurting out that she wanted him to know that she didn't kill her daughter.To me,this speaks volumes.The old saying "Thou protests too much."Same in this case.This family was so hopelessly dysfunctional that Karen had to die because of it.Such a crying shame.......

After reading the Little Girl Blue book my opinion of what killed Karen is that it was two people that were responsible. Evelyn Wallace and what she had to say really summed everything up for me. When she described what the people were like in Karen's family she said that Harold was a sweetheart of a man and Agnes was basically a sociopath (not her exact words). Richard, who Karen spent by far the most time around was described as being "very similar" to Agnes but like most everyone else she didn't seem to feel very comfortable going into anything much about him and I can see why.

As for the "bashing" of Agnes and Richard,it was only the truth-and a huge part of the reason why Karen turned inward on herself,and she is no longer with us.She had absolutely NO control over any of her life because of these two,especially Agnes.People do not get anorexia for no reason-they do not come down with it like a cold or the flu.Poor Karen was mentally in shackles,and just could not break free because she had been so beaten down.Even though it has been 27 years after her death,this book finally does it for her.

I feel like everyone let Karen down including her friends and most of all her family. Richard to this day still doesn't get why his sister got sick. He acts like it was completely random. It's so completely obvious why she was so ill. She had zero control over anything. I guess it's easier for him to turn a blind eye than to admit and accept responsibility for his contribution to her illness. No doubt he loved her but he could have done more to support her besides giving her guilt trips over *her* choices. She adored him and cared more about pleasing him than taking care of herself.

It was even more of a shock to find out that Agnes basically told Karen she HAD to go through with the wedding because relatives were coming in from far away places. I mean who the heck cares - if she had doubts (and we now know he lied to her about having kids) she should have stopped the wedding then and there. I can't believe any Mother would do that to their child.

[talia]

I don't know how to embed YouTube videos

Video

This is an interview with her parents after Karen's death. The commentaries are also interesting. In particular those posted by a john123wayne

[Litha]

I can't listen to her music without feeling sad for her. She was so successful but it's never enough if your soul is living in poverty. Thanks for posting talia