Are impossibly thin celebrities and the media outlets that over-expose them leaving a trail of eating disorders in their wake? Martha Connolly gives her opinion
The latest high-profile celebrity to fall victim to an eating disorder is Mary-Kate Olsen, one half of Tinseltown's most successful teeny tiny twins. The twosome began their careers at the age of one in the sitcom Full House.
They have since achieved stellar status through a string of saccharine films such as New York Minute, even becoming presidents of their own empire, Dualstar Entertainment Group, in the process.
Sales of Mary-Kate and Ashley books, videos, dolls, clothing, accessories, and cosmetics are expected to reach $1 billion this year.
Eighteen-year-old Mary-Kate recently checked into a treatment centre in an attempt to overcome anorexia nervosa.
It's surprising her sister Ashley didn't check in with her, given her own 'slenderness'. In Hollywood, however, such an emaciated physique is the norm, and sadly more and more women, and increasingly men and children, attempt to emulate such preposterous proportions.
Let's get one thing straight here: the skinny bodies starlets such as Lara Flynn Boyle, Calista Flockhart, Victoria Beckham and Nicole Kidman defend with such laughably ludicrous claims as "fast metabolisms", "hectic schedules" and "lucky genes" are the result of no such things at all.
They come about only through obsessive dieting and punishing exercise regimes, helped along by ridiculously expensive personal chefs and trainers, never mind the entourages of stylists, make-up artists, photographers and, of course, the magic of airbrushing
By no means do all the women mentioned necessarily have eating disorders: they simply have the money, the time and the power to achieve figures most ordinary women cannot compete with unless they take drastic and unhealthy measures.
By flaunting their bones on the worldwide stage, these celebrities and the media outlets that over-expose them are irresponsibly and unforgivably creating an epidemic in their wake.
Eating disorders are on the rise and there are no two ways about it. Even in countries such as South Africa, where in the black community full-bodied females have traditionally been seen as more attractive than the skinny, more women are succumbing to these disorders. This contrasts with even a decade ago, when eating disorders were pretty much unheard of there.
What is most disturbing, however, is the fact that nowadays these disorders are affecting children as young as five.
Just think about that for a second: outwardly healthy-looking little girls as young as five are obsessing so much about something so inconsequential as their weight that they are starving themselves, over-exercising, bingeing, purging and even dying.
There must be a connection between the rise in eating disorders and the proliferation of images of ever-shrinking celebrities we see every day, on the silver screen and in the mushrooming selection of celebrity magazines, such as Heat, Closer and Now.
In such magazines, not a week goes by where the weight of a particular celebrity, or indeed group of celebrities, is not scrutinised. If they're not too fat, they're too thin.
While one is lambasted for having a wobbly behind, the other is criticised for setting the poor example of being too thin.
Of course, they are not too thin to ensure these disturbing pictures are not published.
Worse still, they manage to help sell more magazines than ever to a growing market with a seemingly unquenchable appetite for all things brain-dead.
While it is high time these impossibly thin stars and the media outlets that thrive on their images take responsibility for their actions, the demand for celebrity journalism and the profits it generates will rule out self-regulation on the part of greedy media barons and their ravenous bank accounts.
It is up to the public to reject what the likes of Express Group owner Richard Desmond, among others, peddle for the sake of our collective mental health.
Mothers, sisters, aunties and other - it is mostly women who gobble this trash up - should think twice before they buy the latest copy of Heat only to leave it on the kitchen table, where it may fall into the hands of an impressionable child.