Chloe's cry for help
Olivia Newton-John’s brave daughter Chloe Lattanzi spoke out recently about the difficulties of living with anorexia - now the aspiring pop star addresses her battle with the disorder in a heartbreaking new song.
Chloe Lattanzi should have conquered the world by now. A naturally pretty girl with a haunting voice and first class pop music pedigree, she has a recording contract with one of the world’s biggest labels, Warner Bros.
The only thing standing between Chloe, 21, and superstardom is the ravaging effect of the eating disorder anorexia. She has suffered with the vicious condition for more than two years, and her health has recently taken a turn for the worse.
Earlier this month Chloe and her mum, pop legend Olivia Newton-John, spoke out in an interview in a bid to help other sufferers and their parents.
New Idea has now learnt Chloe has also written and recorded a song expressing her feelings about the disease that threatens to take her life. Titled Delicious, the song makes for difficult listening. Its lyrics (right) are a painful reminder of Chloe’s desperate struggle for survival.
In recent months, the LA-based singer, whose father is Olivia’s ex-husband, actor Matt Lattanzi, has relied on a combination of food and help from doctors at the nearby UCLA Medical Center hospital to keep her strong.
Chloe’s friends say writing the song was one way for her to express some of the feelings of desperation she has experienced.
Chloe explains that, along with her mum’s support, her music has helped her to keep surviving day by day.
“I’m so happy to get to share positive things that I’ve been working on for so long,” she says. ‘I don’t want to be Olivia’s daughter who is sick. I felt like I hit rock bottom. My music, my writing, is what has got me through it.’
‘Rock bottom’, as Chloe describes it, has seen her weight plummet below 50kg. Her music career has been held up by the sad realisation that she is simply too weak to tour in support of her debut album - which was originally titled Lonely Nights in Paradis but has now been renamed No Pain.
Insiders say the new title is an ironic reference to the fact that Chloe is unable to remember the recent period when she was in the most pain, because the illness has left her with memory loss.
As she talks about the time in her young life when she was literally starving herself, Chloe’s eyes begin to glaze over.
“That part of my life is a really big blur to me,’ she says. ‘I don’t remember it. I don’t remember.’
‘It’s hard to say when something like that starts and all you know is when it ends.’
The silver lining to Chloe’s story is that by pouring her heart and soul into her music and then posting it to her page on the popular website MySpace Chloe has found a new range of fans among the community of girls worldwide who are also fighting their own battles with eating disorders.
Her brave stance has seen her become the target of disgusting abuse from the sickening ‘pro-anorexia’ websites, but the great majority of the reaction from cyberspace has been positive.
Chloe admits that has given her added motivation in the daily battle to return to a healthy weight.
‘I’ve got floods of emails from girls who haven’t told people that they are ill and who had felt really alone with their illness,’ she says.
‘Now they see me trying to get better and they say to me: “You’re my role model.”’
Dr Sophie Grant, a clinical dietitian who treats young people with eating disorders, tells New Idea: “I think what Chloe is doing by speaking out about her illness is really helping other young girls who will see that someone so beautiful and talented is struggling the same way they are.”
“I hope she isn’t putting herself under too much pressure by trying to recover under the glare of the limelight. But apart from that I have nothing but praise for her. She is a very brave young woman.”
Dr Grant has heard Chloe’s song about anorexia. She believes the young performer’s real life experience means the song could be more valuable to fellow anorexia sufferers than simple kind words of support from those with no experience of eating disorders.
‘My patients often feel that no-one understands their eating disorder,’ Dr Grant says. ‘When you hear someone singing lines like: When you call me I tell you that I’m fine/It’s getting easier to lie, it really reveals the complicated nature of anorexia.’
‘Recovery is not just about getting someone to eat more. It’s also about dealing with the deception, depression, feelings of loneliness or self-image difficulties that a patient is likely to be struggling with.’
With the help of her devoted mum, who fought a brave and ultimately successful battle of her own with breast cancer, and dad, Chloe is determined to beat anorexia.
We hope that by the time she comes to write her next album, she will have happier times to draw inspiration from.
If you suffer from an eating disorder or know of someone who does, and need someone to talk to, call Lifeline Australia on 131 114 or visit www.lifeline.org.au. Visit The Butterfly Foundation’s website at www.thebutterflyfoundation.org.au for a list of support groups around Australia.