AE Biography - The Carpenters: Harmony and Heartbreak (Pt 5)

This episode of A&E Channel's 'Biography' series aired in 1998.

All parts can be found in my uploaded videos section. Enjoy!

Visit http://www.GoCarpenters.com to help induct the Carpenters into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Carpenters
• Karen
• Richard
• Carpenter
• the
• carpenters
• KD
• Lang
• 70's
• music
• anorexia

[aliquippawill]

As I sit and observe this video, I combat this OVERWHELMING sense of sadness & despair that creeps over me in waves. For an individual as beautiful (both physically & spiritually), charismatic, & breathtakingly talented as Karen Carpenter obviously was; to have that person suddenly & tragically removed from our lives, and this world, is comparable to an emotional "thunderbolt". A psychological "wound" is created that takes YEARS to heal. Over 26 years since her passing, I miss her greatly!

[speakingtruly]

Thank you very much for sharing this documentary. It has some footage I've never seen before.

[RicMaster3000]

Agree and liked her voice alot. Believe if she had not denied there was a problem and allowed herself to go to a treatment center 2 stay she could still be here 2day. Perfection sets up oneself 4 failure. I liked her figure and didn't feel she needed to downsize but it's different when one is looking at themselves from the inside out. How do some get this disease? Pressure is a killer how does one manage it positively? Better ways than self-destructive ones to focus on besides drugs & dieting.

[tisgoner]

Noone seems to ask why Karen Carpenter first felt the need to diet and change her body image which would ultimately lead to her untimely demise: who knows why the culture inflicts on women an unnatural body image that only a select few can achieve. The girl was a singer and before the video age singers didn't need to have a visual image to live up to. She might have survived in another an earlier era. Who knows but thankfully we have her wonderful voice to listen to. Thanks for the music Karen

[manderson610]

So sad that a beautiful, talented woman would develop this horrible illness and die from it. Had she lived in this day and age, maybe she would have gotten the proper help she needed...who knows. RIP.

[PumpkinWhoreCat]

Oh my god i didnt know that. Scary scary stuff x

[MsSue1993]

R I P karen you had one in a million voice

[vmuto1]

Mike, I don't know if Randy Schmidt is gay, shouldn't matter anyway he still left so much out of that book of his Little Girl Blue, thanks for your comment. I just hope that the world understands that the book was indeed done with NO RESPECT for the Carpenter name. Seems like the people who wouldn't talk to Randy never have a hard time speaking to me, Only difference is I respect the Carpenter name & always will. Eye's ain'ts a talking!!!!

[arfies]

@PumpkinWhoreCat Sort of. Although ipecac was found in her system (and it can weaken the heart muscle), it was in trace amounts, so she hadn't used it for a while before she died. There were a bunch of factors: her poor body had suffered so much abuse over the years; the 30 pounds she gained recently had put too much stress on her heart (she *wasn't* emaciated when she died); her electrolytes were out of whack; she ate too much the night before and it spiked her blood sugar to diabetic levels...

[arfies]

@landrykkb I wish they had at least released some singles from it. Even Richard admitted he liked "If I Had You," and IMO, it would've been a huge hit in 1980. After all, when it was finally released in 1989 as a single, it reached the Top 20 on Billboard's AC chart... a DECADE after it had been recorded, musical tastes had changed, and the artist was no longer alive to promote it.