Brave family gives us all hope
We heAR too little about the anguish of parents whose children have life-threatening eating disorders, which is why the soul- baring revelations of ITV’s former newsreader Mark Austin have been so moving.
his daughter had anorexia and weighed 5½ st. he found it impossible to understand she was mentally ill, thought she was being ‘ crass, insensitive, selfish and pathetic’ and told her: ‘ If you really want to starve yourself to death, just get on with it.’
he admits he’d present the News At Ten not knowing whether Maddy would survive the night.
What a tribute to him and his family and what hope it gives others that, five years later, she is 22, a healthy weight and at university.