Gisele Bundchen Blames Family Ties for Anorexia

I hate models. There's not much I hate worse than models. Except for stuck-up skinny girls who think they are models. Gisele Bundchen has entered Brazil's growing debate over anorexia, saying families are to blame - not the fashion industry. Let's just say I'm thinking of her as the new Tom Cruise...just like he's an authority on psychiatry (being the mental case that he is), she MUST be the authority on anorexia....right?

Gisele recently told the media: "I never suffered this problem because I had a very strong family base. The parents are responsible, not fashion." (Anorexia became a hot issue in Brazil after the deaths of four young women last month, including 21-year-old model Ana Carolina Reston.) She continued on, "everybody knows the standard for models is to be thin, but you can't generalize and say that all models are anorexic." I do agree with her on this statement. Not all models are anorexic. Have you seen Tyra Banks lately? No way is she anorexic! Some people are naturally skinny but I can guarantee that the models who are already born skinny, take it even further and barely eat.

Other countries, too, have begun to address what they see as the dangerous link between high fashion glamour and an unhealthy image of women. In September, Madrid's Fashion week banned underweight models. Italy's designers followed suit in December, requiring models to submit proof that they do no suffer from an eating disorder.

Bundchen, who left home for a three-month modeling job in Japan when she was 14, said family support was key to her. "You leave home, the protection of your parents, but you still know you have their support," said the Brazilian, who has five sisters.

Great for Gisele. Nice, she's got good family support and all. But guess what? There are girls who are so close knit with their families that they go shopping at the mall with their moms, happily eating at the food court, but then they'll use that duck off moment to the bathroom to vomit. Because Mommy doesn't love them enough? Because Daddy says they've got a chunky butt? No. Most of the time, family has very little to do with it.

Those models, especially one of the most harrowing cases, had a VERY loving and supportive mom who had no clue. Yes, her daughter talked about watching weight to make a show, but her mother told the press she had no idea her daughter was doing the things she was.

Four model deaths related to anorexia, and Miss Expert Gisele is blaming it on the families?? That's not only rude, it's insane. I'm sure there are a few families out there who are sick like that, but from everything I've read, anorexia is a disease that pervades for many reasons, and two of the most common are things said by peers and ...*gasp* the fashion industry! These girls see these images on TV and in magazines EVERY DAY. Kate Bosworth and many other stars are so tiny, they couldn't shop off the rack, and this is what they hear guys talking about. This is what movie directors hire, this is what walks down the catwalk.

Why? I believe Rachel Zoe (bright one that she is, and I'm pretty sure she's not the only one who's stated this...) said that we can't knock superskinny models because "clothes just hang better on them." Clothes hang better?? Why don't you just rig up a skeleton and make IT walk down the runway? It's nauseating to see girls who look that way....bony, boobless, and almost always with a pained look on their faces...displaying fashions that real women don't wear. It's ridiculous!

Giselle can stick it. The industry has as much or more to do with it than families. And I think she's being a real jerk about it. I'm glad she's got her family to back her up, because I have no sympathy for jerks like her at all.