On February 20th, Jack Hodgins spoke with Cherry Boone O’Neill the daughter of American singer Pat Boone, and regular performer with the Boone Family.
During her teenage years in the early 1970s, Cherry developed anorexia. At this time the condition was not well understood with many doctors not knowing much of its existence or how to treat it.
After recovering from the condition in the early 1980’s her memoir about her time with condition, Starving for Attention came out in 1982. Today Cherry is a Certified Transformational Life Coach and talks about her experiences with anorexia regularly.
“My Doctor didn’t even tell me the name of what I was struggling with; I thought I was just some isolated freak going through this weird behaviour all by myself.”
– Cherry Boone O’Neill on this episode of Wellbeing
In this episode, Cherry talks about her early life performing with the Boone Family, the beginnings of her anorexia, how it changed her daily life over time, its impact on her relationships, how fellow Boone family members tried to help her, her journey to recovery, how her book came to be, her friendship with fellow anorexia sufferer Karen Carpenter, and her thoughts on the stigma that exists around anorexia in society.