While never exactly a stick insect, Caballe, in her youth, was not particularly large - check out her early publicity photos (airbrushing techniques were not that good in those days). On the more general subject of her health, in an interview a few years ago she mentioned that she had been living with a brain tumour for some time.
Fairly persistent rumour has it that Callas grew a tapeworm to lose weight - I believe swallowing tapeworm eggs was a not uncommon way of losing weight in Europe in the 50s, though obviously it did not meet with medical approval. I don't know whether this rumour was ever proved one way or the other.
Hope nobody's reading this while they're eating.
Regards, Sheila
In message <42.f40b5b7.278fcfe0@a...>, 42.f40b5b7.278fcfe0@a...>, > > despite the silly delivery of my post, i was quite serious about the >message. i suspect that ms. caballe's statement is mostly geared towards >giving herself an excuse not to lose weight or to do anything else that would >benefit her health. to my knowledge, she has never been thin enough to have >made much of a comparison. > > i don't mean to pick on ms. caballe as i have heard this same idea put >forth by other singers of similar weight. i think there is also a >superstition about losing weight and worrying about losing one's singing >ability at the same time. i wonder if this idea was fostered by callas' >weight loss and the perception by some that she lost the 'glory of her early >bloom'. i wonder if she had some kind of eating disorder. > >mike > > > >
-- Sheila Graham
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