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.

Day 10

• one night after returning from an exhausting day of work


• her mother was talking non-stop


• Cherry told her what she said was bullcrap
• her mother exploded at her


• Cherry told her mother to stop treating her like a child


• she is 24 and married


• she had bottled that up for years, but now she has finally said it


• afterwards, they apologized to each other about the outburst
• Cherry felt after that incident in the kitchen, she was closer with her mother and her family


• she learned to truly love herself


• Dan got a job in Seattle and they moved there


• they both prayed for a child and Cherry got pregnant


• their first daughter was born on August 20, 1981


• Cherry felt that her daughter was a sign from God


• she has proven to God that she could take care of her own life so God trusted her with another one

Day 9

• When Cherry returned to Hollywood to film a Boone family special, her weight decreased to 90 to 100 pounds


• her mother visited her on the island


• when she saw her, she didn't say anything about her weight
  Cherry asked her mother how she maintains such a good body shape


• her mother told her that she meditates everyday for 20 minutes
• when her mother left, she tried it
  she imagined herself in a bed of flowers then stepping on a scale and the numbers would be 115-120 pounds
• her weight increased to 113 pounds which really pleased her


• she and Dan flew to L.A again for a second film special


• with each visit to Hollywood, her confident grew


• she never weighted under 100 pounds again
  she also found out that other people in her family had struggles too from all of the pressures in Hollywood

Day 8

• Cherry and Dan spend Thanksgiving with the Bonne's family


• the 1 month stay in Hawaii turned out to be a 2 year stay


• they adapted themselves into the Kona village community
• but this meant they had to work


• from 8 in the morning till 5 in the afternoon


• Cherry didn't have any time for exercising


• Cherry buried herself in work
• first she worked at a daycare center


• then went to managing a grocery store


• she wrote children songs


• She also directed a performance for Easter


• Dan worked at a graphics studio and also wrote a book on mirage


• Cherry and Dan's mirage grew stronger as they learned how to work together to make the decisions


• they began to understand more about each other and acually communicate with each other

Day 7

• Dr. Vath tells her that anorexia nervosa is a slow kind of suicide


• cherry agrees with him on that


• everyday Dan would tell Cherry that she was "valueble"


• but Cherry still abuses laxatives often


• Cherry and Dan talk to a lot of their friends for advice


• Cherry's dad invited cherry to do a commercial with them in L.A knowing they need some money


• at first, Cherry was afraid that she would appear too heavy on the camera


• she was about to lose weight when Dan told her to accept herself and that she was not too heavy


• Cherry came back in great shape and has even gained weight


• their 11th session with Dr. Vath would be their last


• Cherry and Dan were to stay in Hawaii for a month


• then they would settle down in Seattle


• at their last session, Dr. Vath asked their what love and mirage meant for them


• Cherry and Dan's answers were original


• Dr. Vath told them that mirage is also about giving the person you love a potential to grow

Day 6

• she was put into a hospital



• Dan and her mom visited her everyday



• when she got out of the hospital, Dan decided they were going to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Vath who lives in Seattle, where Dan's parents live



• they moved in with them



• she made things awkward for everyone



• their cooking style is compeletly different from hers



• she and Dan fights often but Dan's parents wouldn't know what is going on



• Dan and Cherry told Dan's parents about her problem



• when Cherry returned from the grocery store, Dan found hidden pills in her wallet



• Dan doesn't trust her at all which really upsets her



• but they were still going to see Dr.Vath


• because of the long drive to his office, they often stayed with close friends like the Ganfields


• Dr. Vath told Dan to stop trying to control Cherry


• cherry started gainning weight


• her father stoped by and invited her to perform with them, but Dan was worried she would go back to her old self again


• Dr. Vath explained to her that the whole world is a stage and we are just actors


• she was afraid to go back to hollywood because she was afraid she would fall back into the same role again


• the performance went okay


• at a family reunion, cherry ate too much so threw up, Dan saw it


• she couldn't control herself again


• she shoplifted laxatives and other things


• once, Dan caught her trying to eat a cookie off the supermarket floor


• they had a big fight


• cherry was so upset, she was going to kill herself


• but Dan stopped her

Day 5

• Cherry meets Dan and immediately trusts him.
• they prayed together
• soon, they got married
• they bought a small apartment together
• Cherry had to tell Dan about her eating disorders
• Dan made a specific eating plan for Cherry and she stuck to it
• cherry went on tours with her family and abandoned her healthy eating


• when she went back home, she immediatly started exercising like crazy


• one afternoon, Dan found candy wrappers, suger bags, cookie bags, ect


• he also found dieting medicines in her purse


• he gave her a spanking


• one night, Dan woke up to see the whole bed drowning in diarrhea


• Cherry secretly swallowed 60 laxative pills, but she blamed it on the flu Dan had, said she had caught it


• she and Dan moved into her parents for a while


• Cherry can't help but throw up, now she doesn't even need to stick her finger in her throat....

Day 4

• the doctor told her she shouldn't exercise so much


• her mother took her to the supermarket and bought all her favorite foods


• that night, she took her dinner upstairs with her and put it in a bag


• her mother made her a smoothie, she poured half of it into the toillet and drunk the other half


• she wanted to eat her dinner, she took out the bag but her mom came in and took the bag thinking she took a chicken to give to Summa


• she sneaked downstairs to eat that chicken and her mom saw it


• she felt too full so she threw up and her mom suspected she was doing it


• her dad set her weight goal to 110 pounds


• cherry didnt want to be that fat girl again-she was really scared and along


• there were constant argument with her parents


• she started disobeying-shoplifting and coming home late on purpose


• on the plane one day, her mom showed her an article called "the self-starvers"


• she read it and the symtomes were exactly what she was facing


• she has a disease called anorexia nervosa

Day 3

• cherry dieted for 4 hours everyday


• she still eats everything


• looses weight dramatically


• still gets As


• little social contacts with friends


• hates to be disterbed during her exercise time


• her period stoped


• she had to finish a project one night so she took a whole bottle of No Doz


• she started feeling dizzy then couldn't move


• she managed to get into bed


• her heart was beating really fast


• thought she was going to die


• she broke up with Warren because of their religion differences


• her mom bought her a puppy Summa


• her daily schedule is non-stop workout


• one night she went in her parent's room to say goodnight and fell asleep in their beds


• her mother saw how skinny she was and started crying


• the next morning, her dad weighted her and she weight 92 pounds


• her parents arranged a doctor appointment


• the doctor told her to stop trying to loose weight and she has to start gainning or he'll put her in a children's hospital

Day 2

• Cherry and her sisters started porferming on stage



• still gets straight As'



• would stay up all night to work on a project



• when she had to study Chinese history in class, she became so she pretended to throw up every morning. her housekeeper knew she was faking and said, "You ain't sick. Anybody can throw up-all you gotta do is stick your finger down your throat!"



• cherry did that and it worked



• she knew that physical appearance was everything for a performer



• she started dieting when she heard a male friend of the family that thin is in



• she ate very little and did exercises



• discovered her mother's diet pills and took them a lot



• when her mother discovered how much pills she has taken, she banned them, but she still had her way of getting them



• became interested in boys and started dating a way older guy



• he tried to touch her, but she stoped him and broke up with him



• now she was scared of physical activities



• first her maid-a very close friend of the family died



• then her grandfather died



• and finally her best friend



• she felt guilty for all of the deaths even though she had nothing to do with them


• she loves to take late night drives


• but this time she was planning on going somewhere for a retreat so she could think


• but she got scared along the way and ended up spending the weekend at their friends, the Osmond


• she became close with their son, Warren but their spiritual believes were different


• they started dating


• she became for upsest with her weight and started to starve herself


• on her birthday she couldn't control her stomach and ate too much, she thought of the trick her maid taught her and threw up


• at 16, she weighted 140 pounds


• she began intense exercising and lost weight

Day 1

• Cherry was born on July 7th, 1954 at 7:41am



• her parents was hoping it would be a boy



• her father was an English teacher, and was discovered, and became a pop singer



• she is the oldest child in her family so she has to look after her 3 little sisters



• she loved being in charge and getting attention from her parents by being a perfect daughter



• at her piano recital, she had lost her place during the performance



• feels very guilty for letting her sisters get hurt when she was watching them



• was considered a hero when she woke her family up when there was an electrical shortening in their house (could have turned into a big fire) but she doesn't feel like a hero because the only reason she had woken up was because her night light wasn't working



• when her father had asked her to sing a song on his show, she was scared so she chickened out



• moved to Beverly Hills-had a big house, lots of maids, superstars house within walking distance



• she met all of her star crushes



• she attanded a private school. Her classmates were all famous or had famous parents



• but the magic faded as time went on, there was no privacy



• their house was added to the star house map-people crowded around their house everyday for autographs and pictures


• her dad travelled a lot so she didn't see him much during her childhood


• soon their family faced money problems


• her parents would often fight at night and her mother would storm off


• her parents were very strict


• Cherry begains to experience adulthood


• putting on make-up got her spanked several times


• they started attanding church more and soon the money problem was over and they started performing again

Who I think she is?

What i know about Cherry Boone O'Neill:

• She is the oldest daughter of Pat Boone
• When her friend died, she became anorexia
• She has written 2 books on anorexia
• She is now married with 4 daughters and 1 son