Jezebel
huff the magic dragon
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la familia
Intervention: The Matchmaker & The Mafia
Last night I watched one of the best Intervention episodes I have ever seen. I think it comes second only to the chronicle of Cristy. It featured Marie, an Italian-American woman who started a successful matchmaking business, only to give it all up to make her fourth husband, Bora, happy. Bora introduced her to "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll" only to die of complications from alcoholism. Marie couldn't pick the pieces back up after his death, and turned into a severe alcoholic herself. Her children Clorinda, Vincenzina, and Sal organized an intervention for her, but admit that it's hard for them to do, since they are taught to "stick together" and, as their grandmother explains, "not turn anybody in, no matter what." Clip above. -
annals of anorexia
Intervention: Dying To Live Up To The Image Of A Twin
We often hear about the clear-cut, negative influences that contribute to eating disorders, but rarely hear about the more complex influences that affect the self-image of those who suffer from such diseases. Meet Emily, who was featured on a recent episode of Intervention. Emily had a considerable amount of trauma in her life (her parents' divorce, surviving an assault), but an issue that kept returning over and over was that she never felt like she measured up to her successful identical twin sister, Tiffany. Her way of controlling her life, and creating an individual identity away from Tiffany, was to starve herself. Clip above. -
The Washington Post interviewed Sam Mettler, creator of the show Intervention, and asked a great question that never even occurred to us: Does he ever get a contact high while filming the addicts when they're using? "I was doing this story: Caylee. She was 21. I was sitting on floor interviewing her in her very tiny girls' pink bedroom full of teddy bears in Salt Lake City. The room was filled with heroin smoke. I was not realizing that what she was missing with her straw was being drawn right into my lungs. I stood up and immediately I fell down onto her bed. I could not stop shaking and drooling. I felt horribly sick. It lasted maybe 45 minutes. She laughed at me. But was apologetic." Mettler also said the show is planning on a comprehensive reunion episode, to catch up with how the subjects are dealing with recovery. We really hope it features Cristy and that she's gotten herself together. [Washington Post]
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crack is wack
Sometimes Addicts Are Just A-Holes
Sometimes when I'm watching Intervention, the stories of the addicts are so sad that it makes a lot of sense that they turned to substance abuse to self-medicate. But the same doesn't hold true with last night's episode, featuring Chad, a professional bike racer turned homeless crackhead. He seems like he's been an asshole pretty much his whole life. He had violent outbursts since he was a kid, stemming from what seems like a severe case of middle-child syndrome and the product of a broken home; issues that plenty of people deal with all the time, without having to bottom out. Anyway, he spent some time in Juvie as a kid and then got his life together as a professional cyclist. Things started to go down the crapper when, at an Olympic training center, he got wise with Lance Armstrong. Lance had Chad thrown out of the facility and Chad subsequently lost his cycling contract. Anyway, watch this guy's 'tude in the clip above. It's pretty outrageous. In his defense, he did go to rehab, got cleaned up, and made really heartfelt amends to his family. More » -
clips
Intervention: 6-Year-Old Girl Diets To Emulate Her Eating-Disordered Mom
We all know that eating disorders can be hereditary, but, as a recent episode of Intervention showed, unhealthy relationships with food can begin to take effect in the very, very young. Kelly, an anorexic single mom who was raised by an anorexic single mom, has a six year old daughter named Disa who has begun mimicking the eating habits of her mother, specifically, not finishing meals, and staring at one spoonful of Kix with such reservation and dread it's just heartbreaking. Clip above.
Earlier: Sometimes It's Mom — Not Media — Who Gives Girls Eating Disorders More » -
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intervention
Ann, Babydoll, You Gotta Eat Something
Dear Ann Coulter, we need a chit-chat. Ever since you endorsed Hillary that fateful night on Fox, you've been growing on me. The problem is, you haven't been growing. To be perfectly frank, we didn't care so much about your eating disorder before you came out and told Hillary exactly what we've been wanting to say to her all these years re that husband of hers: "You're too good for him, Hillary". But there's a worrisome trend: as your public statements increasingly reveal you to be a mere parody of yourself, your eating habits are following suit. What is this we hear about you eschewing food to chew Nicorette all night at some fancy gathering of the hateful over the weekend? Oh sure, you were there with Bob Novak, and vehicles for the Bush Administration's relentless and profligate abuse of power make me lose my appetite too, but come on, lady: we all know that of all the things God was hoping you'd give up for Lent, calories were pretty far down the list. More » -
clips
Sometimes It's Mom -- Not Media -- Who Gives Girls Eating Disorders
An episode of Intervention aired last night that featured a very sick family. Caylee is a 21-year-old who is addicted to heroin and cocaine, and also has had an eating disorder since she was a young girl. It seems as though the entire family blames her body issues on her mother Christy, who has suffered from various eating disorders of her own — a combination of anorexia, bulimia, and excessive exercise — for the past 35 years. When Caylee was about 8 years old, Christy let her know that she was getting pudgy and began policing the food she ate, guilting her into avoiding French fries, and instilling in her a fear of food and body fat that she's struggled with her entire life and turning her to hard drugs. The family arranged an intervention for her, but when interventionist Jeff VanVonderen got a load of Christy, he decided that she needed to be in treatment as well. Clip above.
Related: Parents In Denial About Children's Weight Problems [Science Daily] More » -
clips
24-Year-Old Female Meth Addict Is, Frankly, Almost Beyond Repair
One of the best episodes ever of Intervention reran on A&E last night, and we just had to share it. The entire show focuses on a young woman named Cristy, who, at the tender age of 24, has been addicted to crystal meth for 10 years — 10 years! Her family hasn't helped matters: Her father lets her live for free in his guest house — which she's completely trashed — and he and his ex-wife were only prompted to stage the intervention because they found out that Cristy had been working as a stripper. (Apparently, that was more alarming than the fact that she's deep in the throes of what is probably an irreversible meth psychosis in which she believes that she is the sister of both Jesus and Satan, and finds it appropriate to walk around outside with no clothing on.) The clip above is a little NSFW, for blurred out nudity. More » -
drive me crazy
How Do You Solve A Problem Like Britney?
Reports are coming in that Britney left L.A. and went to Mexico with her new boyfriend, paparazzo Adnan Ghalib, because her family was planning an intervention. (Between her parents and Dr. Phil, is it any wonder she'd feel the urge to skip town?) But Patt Morrison of the Los Angeles Times suggests that what Britney really needs is reform of the California mental healthcare code. "In the 1950s and '60s, care for the mentally ill gave off a Dickensian vibe," she writes. "People were locked away in state hospitals for months, years, for life. Too many times, they weren't insane — just old and dotty, or inconvenient, or different and difficult." Back in the day, a person could be put away just for walking down the street talking to herself. Attacking a car with an umbrella or the head-shaving incident? Britney would have been in a straightjacket. More »
