Back in April, US Vogue published an article by a woman who had put her seven-year-old daughter on a diet after she had been diagnosed as clinically obese and needed to lose weight for health reasons.
The author Dara-Lynn Weiss – a socialite from Manhattan’s Upper-East side – gave a candid and honest confession about what it felt like to put her daughter on a diet but the article was slammed by parents, journalists and doctors alike and Jezebel called the piece “the worst Vogue article ever” and Weiss “one of the most f*cked up, selfish women to ever grace the magazine’s pages”.
And, while some of the things Weiss did to keep her daughter on track were a little extreme to put it mildly – Weiss once made her daughter go without dinner after she ate brie, filet mignon, baguette and chocolate at her school’s French Heritage Day (fancy!) – it hasn’t deterred publishing companies from spotting a opportunity to make a lot of money and Weiss landed a book deal off the back of her controversial article.
The book entitled The Heavy is a continuation of Weiss and her daughter Bea’s weight loss journey and initial book reviews by The Cut and The New York Times have been positive, possibly because Weiss has over 200 pages to explain her motivation for putting Bea on a calorie restricted diet.
Dara-Lynn with her daughter Bea
“The backlash was part of the whole reason I wanted the conversation to continue,” Weiss told the NYT. People are so critical of childhood obesity, and then you try to do something about it–to help your child–and they’re critical of that, too.”
So why was there so much backlash? In the original Vogue article, Weiss recounts a time where she threw away a child’s size hot chocolate because the barista couldn’t tell her how many calories it contained and how she forbade her daughter from partaking in pizza Friday’s in school. And, it also possibly has something to do with the fact that she’s thin, rich and has admitted to having her own food issues in the past.
But has anyone asked Bea how she feels about the world weighing in on the matter?
Whatever your views, it makes for an interesting read.
The Heavy is available to buy on online at randomhouse.com
