Issue date: Nov 7, 1999
England's Duchess
of York, aka Sarah Ferguson or Fergie, is on a high-profile campaign
against obesity -- and she's not just talking Weight Watchers, the
diet organization for which she's a paid spokesperson.
The Duchess now lectures health professionals because "Doctors
don't know how to talk to patients. They don't know how to say 'You're
obese,' to say 'Yes, there is a problem, not 'Oh, no, you're fine,
it's just puppy fat.'"
Fergie's own battle with the bulge was chronicled by London's
Fleet Street tabloids with hurtful headlines such as "Duchess of
Pork." She's unintimidated by medical professionals, she told Who's
News' Lorrie Lynch, because she speaks from personal experience.
LL: This is a new thing for you, talking to doctors and
dietitians or nutritionists.
SF: Yes, but weight is a serious situation. And people
take it more seriously if a doctor talks about it. If your husban,
or spouse or children say something, you're more apt to say, "Who
are you?"
LL: Do you think there's too much emphasis on thin in our
culture?
SF: Yes. And all these thin models have a direct bearing
on weight. I think it's very very, damaging. At a young age, you
think you've failed because you're not a thin model or you're not
this or that and immediately it taints you for the future. You think
that because you're not a supermodel you've failed somehow, which
causes you to eat more.
LL: You have two young daughters. Do you see young girls
getting caught up in such thinking? Should we be discouraging it?
SF: Well, a child has a right to an expression just as a grown
up does. If they have a problem, if they don't feel comfortable
within themselves, I don't think it's important for me to say, "Oh,
yes, you're fine, now run along and play." I think it's important
to say, "OK, if you've got a problem, let's sit and talk about it."
LL: Is this sort of lecturing what you expect to be doing
more and more?
SF: It's becoming my life's work, yes, it is. I'm mad on
it. I feel very strongly about "obesity" and it really
worries me.
LL: Do you see yourself doing any writing on the topic?
SF: I will write something about it...but it will be at
a time where I've really been [spending more time] speaking out
on health and obesity.
LL: What do you say to critics who might say what does
she know about health and nutrition and obesity?
SF: I know my subject. I know what I'm talking about -
not from the research or the scientific point of view but from the
point of view of someone who's had a weight problem since she was
12 years old.
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