Sisters' Deaths Fuel Thin Model Debate

2 Models Die Of Apparent Heart Attacks 6 Months Apart In Uruguay

(AP)  Two sisters, both models, have died of apparent heart attacks within months of each other in a family tragedy, as the fashion world debates how to protect the health of painfully thin runway models.

Eliana Ramos, 18, was found dead at her grandparents' home in the Uruguayan capital on Tuesday, authorities said. Her sister Luisel, 22, died shortly after stepping down from a runway last Aug. 2 during a fashion show here.

While no medical report was immediately released after the latest death, Judge Roberto Timbal told the respected online news outlet Observa that Eliana Ramos died of a heart attack. An autopsy on Luisel found that she also died of a heart attack.

The judge told Observa that "nothing out of the ordinary" appeared to be involved in the death, but that an autopsy was conducted on his orders and that final test results would be made available in a month. Fellow models said that neither sister suffered from an eating disorder.

However, the girls' deaths at such young ages prompted widespread media attention in Latin America, where the fashion industry's treatment of young women has been the subject of a lively debate since anorexia was blamed for the deaths of 21-year-old model Ana Carolina Reston and three other Brazilian women in December.

The father of the two women, Luis Ramos, is a former soccer player for Uruguayan squad Nacional from the 1960s, and reportedly was vacationing with his wife elsewhere in the country at the time of Eliana Ramos' death.

One model who shared the runway with Eliana Ramos, Lucia Brocal, dismissed speculation that poor eating habits had anything to do with her death.

"I'm indignant," she said of some local reports speculating on her death. "She died for the same reasons her sister did."

Erika Fallen, another model, also rejected any speculation that an eating disorder could have played a role.

"Whenever something happens, they try to relate it to eating problems. But she died just like her sister did," Fallen said.

[brownignds]

I don't understand why people get into such hype about being too thin. I also think people ignore the fact that anorexia also affects men. I am male, 24, 5'10" and weigh 125 pounds and have been as low as 115. That's like a really low BMI. My point is this; fashion has always worshipped thin; some people, including myself, like being thin and we may be obsessed, but it is no different than someone being fat or addicted to cigarettes, and yet noone seems to worry about "young girls" seeing fat people or adults smoking now do they!? They are only picking on fashion right now. Perhaps the little girls (don't forget boys!), are developing eating disorders not bc they have seen thin models on TV, but rather fat adults that they don't want to become!

[choney2]

I think that the magazines, television, cable stations all around the world. Should except some of the blame, for making girls feel that they have to be thin.The people that they focus on are thin and beautiful, they act as if a women who wears a size 12 should kill her self. They they showed more pictures of happy normal sized women.It would help to change the view point of our society.Someone like Jenneifer Hudson is pictured as being rare. A large women and a success, instead of her being the norm. Their are more woman wearing a size 10 and up, then 5'11 and wearing a size 2.Stop making girls feel like they are not beautiful if they don't look like Paris(to thin) Hilton!

[michellem99-2009]

I am an older lady. I do feel that it not healthy to be too thin and or over weight. When I was young I could not gain weight and was thin. Now in my 50s I whigh 130. I am not fat. I feel that modeling world need to wake up to the fact we come in all sizes. The thin models send mixed messages to young girls. It is true that fat ladies do get made fun of as do thin ladies. The young ladies will do what ever it takes to be so thin and they look awful. Maybe these 2 sisters who died will reach others who are dying to be too thin. Their bodies couldn't handle it. I feel young ladies should be happy with the body they have. Men are to blame too, We change as we age. Like it or not that's the way it is. The press is also the blame. What I mean by they look awful is skin and bones, they should be more healthy.

[michellem99-2009]

I am an older lady. I do feel that it not healthy to be too thin and or over weight. When I was young I could not gain weight and was thin. Now in my 50s I whigh 130. I am not fat. I feel that modeling world need to wake up to the fact we come in all sizes. The thin models send mixed messages to young girls. It is true that fat ladies do get made fun of as do thin ladies. The young ladies will do what ever it takes to be so thin and they look awful. Maybe these 2 sisters who died will reach others who are dying to be too thin. Their bodies couldn't handle it. I feel young ladies should be happy with the body they have. Men are to blame too, We change as we age. Like it or not that's the way it is. The press is also the blame. What I mean by they look awful is skin and bones, they should be more healthy.

[michellem99-2009]

I am an older lady. I do feel that it not healthy to be too thin and or over weight. When I was young I could not gain weight and was thin. Now in my 50s I whigh 130. I am not fat. I feel that modeling world need to wake up to the fact we come in all sizes. The thin models send mixed messages to young girls. It is true that fat ladies do get made fun of as do thin ladies. The young ladies will do what ever it takes to be so thin and they look awful. Maybe these 2 sisters who died will reach others who are dying to be too thin. Their bodies couldn't handle it. I feel young ladies should be happy with the body they have. Men are to blame too, We change as we age. Like it or not that's the way it is. The press is also the blame. What I mean by they look awful is skin and bones, they should be more healthy.

[michellem99-2009]

I am an older lady. I do feel that it not healthy to be too thin and or over weight. When I was young I could not gain weight and was thin. Now in my 50s I whigh 130. I am not fat. I feel that modeling world need to wake up to the fact we come in all sizes. The thin models send mixed messages to young girls. It is true that fat ladies do get made fun of as do thin ladies. The young ladies will do what ever it takes to be so thin and they look awful. Maybe these 2 sisters who died will reach others who are dying to be too thin. Their bodies couldn't handle it. I feel young ladies should be happy with the body they have. Men are to blame too, We change as we age. Like it or not that's the way it is. The press is also the blame. What I mean by they look awful is skin and bones, they should be more healthy.

[michellem99-2009]

I am an older lady. I do feel that it not healthy to be too thin and or over weight. When I was young I could not gain weight and was thin. Now in my 50s I whigh 130. I am not fat. I feel that modeling world need to wake up to the fact we come in all sizes. The thin models send mixed messages to young girls. It is true that fat ladies do get made fun of as do thin ladies. The young ladies will do what ever it takes to be so thin and they look awful. Maybe these 2 sisters who died will reach others who are dying to be too thin. Their bodies couldn't handle it. I feel young ladies should be happy with the body they have. Men are to blame too, We change as we age. Like it or not that's the way it is. The press is also the blame. What I mean by they look awful is skin and bones, they should be more healthy.

[frb01]

This obsession with thin is a form of mental illness and for some that impedes rational thinking. She should be remembered for her tremendous voice and talent but instead she is remembered for her death through an eating disorder. The world of modeling needs to be reminded of the tragic death of Karen Carpenter. That should give every one involved some pause to think.

[devilstower]

These girls look like they are 12 years of age. If women today think that is what it takes to be a model,then where are the designers saying thats too thin? Or do they think every woman is that thin? WAKE UP people where is the harm in a woman being natural at 5 foot 8 120 lbs? Not a *** thing. You people in the fashion world are just plain ignorent to think every woman should not weigh over 80 lbs. Plain and simple WAKE UP! A womans body is very beautiful with all their curves not a body straight as a board. You people in the fashion world need to walk around a mall and see how many wemon are that small you wount find but 1 or 2 so WAKE UP make clothes for normal ladies not teenagers how many more girles have to die before you WAKE UP!!!!!

[sharncedar]

"If no one loves a fat girl, then girls do what they absolutely have to not to be fat."

How about learning to love yourself. How about rejecting a society and norms that are stupid and destructive. How about having a backbone and thinking for yourself. Not just for yourself, but for all the others that want to be free but are too scared, too isolated. How about grow up, judge yourself, and decide you are just right.

[lonestartnow]

I'm not sure why the headline of this story hawks a "thin model debate." What is there really to debate? This is a health issue, a huge health issue and concern, and being too thin is unhealthy, just as being obese is unhealthy. Where's the headline over an "obesity debate?"

[anopinion1]

Think of that double-standard next time you hear a fat joke.
Posted by AaaBee at 03:58 PM : Feb 14, 2007

If you can't take a joke or laugh at yourself then you have other problems then being fat.
It dosen't matter how big you are their are other big people out their that will love you just the same. Or are you trying to go for the guy that looks like brad pitt when you look like jabba the hut ????

you are probably like 2 pounds overweight and look just fine but are freaked out trying to look like somebody else when you are you. live with it. one of my sisters does this she is like 10 lbs overweight maybe but is hanging picturs of models on her fridge and all over to make her wannna exercise and run more and stresses herself out more then she already is.

[dixiebobh]

There is nothing more repulsive to me, and many men, that a skinny, bony female! Most guys, though they won't admit it, are "Meat and Potatoes Guys" who want a woman on a permanent basis that they can get their teeth in!

[ecuadoriana]

These models always claim that they either absolutely do not have an eating disorder or else they claim they are forced to be thin by the industry. I suspect that they are "forced to be thin" because they allow themselves to be forced by the lure of being paid far too much money just to prance around the runways looking like pretty ponies on a stick. That, in turn, places them in denial that they have a problem, because to admit there's a problem would be to lose all that money- & the glamour & fame that goes along with it.

But, despite all the money, glamour & fame, a dead body rots just like any other. Jeez, look at Anna Nicloe Smith- or rather don't! In another cbs news article it says that she's decomposing already!

So, to all those girls out there who want to starve yourselves for fashion, I say, "Great! More chocolate for me! And could you please go decompose somewhere else? Some of us are busy here living!"

[legendary240]

A sad shame it is. Moms and Dads, don't ever tease your girls about how they look. Tell them they are the most beautiful girl in the world.

[inventagod]

My wife died trying to be thin. Thin was never something I wanted for her, I like round women the most. This was something she had learned as an early teen. I just had to watch it happen, and supported her in any way I could.

I do wish to point out that most women are overweight, and they have partners. Look around, young women, and learn. Men may peek at the thin ones, but they spend their lives with the rounder ones...

[aaabee-2009]

It isn't just the runway. Society: TV, magazines, peers, males, all push girls. We all just want to be accepted and not alone. Fat girls get the jokes, the cruelty, the lonliness, the outcast. More value is placed on a woman's weight than her IQ. If no one loves a fat girl, then girls do what they absolutely have to not to be fat.

Think of that double-standard next time you hear a fat joke.

[random_radar]

I believe in letting people do what they want. If models want to starve themselves to death, that is their business, not mine. If people want to eat themselves to death, it is their business, not mine.

I don't impose my will on others in the hopes that they won't impose their will on me. I am so anxious to be left alone that I will let other people kill themselves. I will give you liberty or give you death...