Can you die from a broken heart?
According to British newspapers, the mother of French model and actress Isabelle Caro, who famously suffered with anorexia and died in November, took her own life earlier this month because she was immensely distraught over the death of her daughter.
Britain’s Daily Mail reports that Marie Caro was apparently suffering from “enormous guilt” and committed suicide a few weeks ago.
“[Marie] felt guilty for having put Isabelle in the Bichat Hospital. My daughter did not want to go to that hospital,” Isabelle’s stepfather, Christian told reporters.
Medical experts recommended to Marie that 27-year-old Isabelle seek professional help after her anorexia-ravaged body was featured in a shocking 2007 advertising campaign shot by Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani.
In the ad Caro’s naked body was shown as mere skin and bones. Her skeletal frame and facial bones protrude and she looks like she is near death. The haunting images of Isabelle’s emaciated body were published in major newspapers and plastered on billboards with the headline “No Anorexia.”
Despite public acknowledgement of her eating disorder and subsequent treatment, Isabelle never recovered. After her daughter’s death Marie was said to be inconsolable. Isabelle’s stepfather told news reporters the last straw came when Toscani took hits at Isabelle soon after her death. The irreverent photographer described the model posthumously as “arrogant and self-promoting.”
Christian says the vicious quote was more than Marie could tolerate.
“She already couldn’t bear the death of her daughter,” Christian told news reporters. “She died of a broken heart.”
A despondent mom takes her own life after watching her own daughter die.
It’s an enormously sad story all around, but certainly not hard to believe. I can’t imagine how I would feel if I lost my daughter. Actually, I know how I would feel. I would feel like dying. Whereas I don’t see suicide as an answer to anything, I realize that the temptation can be overwhelming for others.
How do you measure the pain associated with the death of a child? It’s impossible.
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