Essay

Cherry Boone O’Neill
Cherry Boone was born on July 7th, 1954 in Denton, Taxes. Cherry’s father, Pat Boone became famous shortly after her first birthday. Cherry is the oldest of the four Boone girls, so she had a lot of responsibilities such as taking care of her siblings, helping with chores, and most importantly, achieving to be the perfect daughter.

When the Boone family moved into their house in Hollywood, they were ecstatic, but there were always tourists around their house, taking pictures. Cherry’s father was constantly on the road but after some separations, the family decided to accompany Pat on his tours. Soon, the Boone girls were performing on stage with their father. This brought a lot of pressure to Cherry because at the age of 16, she weighted 140 pounds. Cherry was determined to loose weight so she began exercising frequently, such as jogging, swimming, and doing leg kicks in the pool. But every night at dinner, she would gain back all calories by stuffing her face with food. Then, when everyone is asleep, she would go into the bathroom and force herself to vomit. Cherry lost weight dramatically and she was satisfied with her results.

Finally, her parents took notice of Cherry’s conditions and were very worried. She assured them that she was fine. When her father forced her onto a scale, he saw that Cherry weighted at only 92 pounds. The doctor did a check-up on her and told her that she has to start gaining weight or else he’ll put her in a children’s hospital. Cherry was very furious, so she exercised more and started taking diet pills and laxatives. There were constant arguments in the Boone’s house caused by Cherry’s behaviors. She fell into deep depression and wondered if there was something wrong with her. Cherry soon discovered the cause of all of it; a disease called anorexia nervosa. But she still didn’t know how to fight it.

Cherry met Dan and immediately fell in love with him. Before they got married, Cherry told Dan about her conditions and Dan more than happy to assist her in getting better. But after they got married, things went rocky. Dan was trying very hard to help Cherry, but Cherry still eats and exercises behind his back. When Dan found out, he was extremely angry and at her. Soon, the disease was more than the two could handle, so Dan decided to move Cherry to Seattle where he knew a great psychiatrist, Dr. Vath, who promised great results.

After 11 sessions with Dr. Vath, Cherry and Dan were ready to go forward with their life again. They moved to an island in Hawaii called Kona. There, they devoted themselves to their daily work, which really helped Cherry. They stayed at Kona for two years, and then moved back to LA. Cherry and Dan were both praying for a child, and their prayers came true. Their first daughter, Brittany Boone O’Neill was born happy and healthy. After Cherry gave birth to her, she felt that she was truly healed. It was a sign from God telling her, now that she has proven she could take care of herself, He could finally trust her with another life.

I think what Cherry has been through is heartbreaking and disturbing. But she was very brave to write her experiences down for everyone to read. Anorexia is becoming a very typical disease that happens to both men and women. Cherry wrote this book so people could be aware of what really happens beneath the slim figure.