the ending
What is she drinking in the end, right before she dies? the quality was bad on the one i saw and couldn't make it out.
shareIf you mean the small bottles you see her taking out of the drawer below her bathroom sink, just before the end, they contained syrup of ipecac, which makes one vomit. It was what Karen switched to after Ex-Lax, and further weakened her in the months before her death.
shareActually, there's no proof that Karen Carpenter ever used syrup of ipecac, or ever used vomiting as a means to an end during the course of her anorexia. As a singer, she had to realize the potential damage to her vocal chords, and her voice never showed the signs of strain that would be associated with forced vomiting. Her singing voice didn't change, except for the normal growing and slight deepening you would expect with aging.
Her death was attibuted to cardiac arrest, secondary to anorexia nervosa. Anorexia takes its own toll on the body, and she was probably weakened beyond recovery before she ever *pursued* recovery. Anorexia was enough to take her to that point; the ipecac (and any damage it would have caused) would have been superfluous to her actual medical condition, which was profoundly far-gone.
Even though Syrup of Ipecac IS mentioned as one of the contributing causes of death in the coroner's report. But you're right, he probably just doesn't know how to do his job, because there is no way that Karen would ever do anything to hurt her voice to lose weight. Die, yes. Hurt voice, IMPOSSIBLE!
shareKaren's voice most certainly DID change. I am a singer with a very keen ear for vocal timbre, especially when it changes, and by the time she died, her voice had thinned considerably.
Listen to "Rainy Days And Mondays" and then play a song from their final album released while she was alive, "Made In America." ("Somebody's Been Lyin" is a perfect example.) Her voice had thinned a lot, and she relied more and more on glottal attacks than diaphragmatic support.
The coroner listed her death as follows:
From the anatomic findings and pertinent history I ascribe death to:
(A) EMETINE CARDIOTOXICITY
DUE TO AS A CONSEQUENCE OF
(B) ANOREXIA NERVOSA
Emetine is the substance found in syrup of ipecac. I doubt the coroner would put this on the report had they not found it in her blood. I'm sorry, I know this causes controversy, but I tend to believe it's true just from the changes I hear in the tone and flexibility of her voice.
However, her heart was already weakened not only from the strict dieting over the years, but also from the abuse of laxatives and thyroid pills to speed up her metabolism. By the time she sought help, it was already too late - she was on borrowed time.
Futhermore, she only spent a year in therapy. People with eating disorders require years of therapy, and she'd gained all her weight back fast through a direct feeding tube and IV. So, by the time she died, I believe she was in the throes of a relapse.
Also, her family dynamic hadn't changed at all, she was separated from her husband with a divorce looming large on the horizon. She still probably felt out of control of her own life. She should have stayed in New York and in therapy, but as I've already said, physically it was too late for her. The damage was already done.
JOE TYRIA
Creed Wolf Productions
Silver Creed Wolf Music (BMI)
[email protected]
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