PLEASE NOTE: If you are suffering at all from anorexia nervosa or an eating disorder of any kind, please seek help. There are great reading resources and hotlines you can call such as:
&
Mind Blank (in Australia)
Hi all!
This post is going to be quite different to what I typically write about but I feel compelled to address this issue as I am highly empathetic towards mental illness and wish to continue promoting the theme of peace and love as per my blog name.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Eugenia Cooney, she is a 22 year old YouTube star with over 1 million subscribers. Her videos mainly revolve around fashion, makeup and pop culture. The only reason I know of her is because she is incredibly controversial and a victim of daily online abuse. Why? Well, if you look her up, you will see that Eugenia is quite evidently anorexic.
A petition has actually been set up to demand that Eugenia remove herself from social media as her deteriorating body is potentially influencing fans worldwide to develop their own eating disorders. Parents of susceptible young teenagers are terrified that their children will follow in Eugenia’s footsteps, believing her look to be cool and fashionable. I took it upon myself recently to watch one of her videos reacting to hate comments and was absolutely disgusted by what everybody was saying. Here are just a few comments (I apologise in advance for the bad language):
- Kill yourself.
- Eat a whole f**ing pie skinny piece of sh*t, it will probably get you somewhere in life emo-f**er. Also, slit your wrists stupid sl*t. F**ing attention wh*re, I hope you get f**ing raped and die you f**ing white paint splat.
- You probably had no friends because you’re anorexic and emo and they thought you were a ghost.
- Die you f**ing twig, no sane person gives a sh*t about what you do. You and all your subs (subscribers) should be liquidised like Jews.
- You’re skinny you freak, go rape yourself.
- Literally 90% of the population hates you.
- Can’t wait till this edgy bitch dies so everyone remembers her as that one girl on YouTube that died because she refused to gain weight. I’m really only subscribed because I am waiting for her to kill herself or die of starvation.
Doesn’t reading these hateful messages just make you sick? Yes, Eugenia Cooney refuses to admit she is anorexic and frequently states that this is just her body-type. Yes, it is understandable that parents are worried for their children watching her. Yes, perhaps her YouTube Channel should be removed whilst this continues. But does this hateful and horrible approach help anything at all? No it does not. Eugenia Cooney does not know she has anorexia nervosa as those diagnosed with this mental illness perceive themselves to be fat. I have never had anorexia nor bulimia but years ago I did have ED thoughts so I understand that what Eugenia sees in the mirror is completely different to what we see and she is filled with fear of food every single day. Eugenia comes from the United States where around 30 million Americans suffer from eating disorders. People hurling abuse and hatred her way will not help her get any better. Followers demanding that she admit she’s dying is futile. Eugenia doesn’t know she is dying. She has a dysmorphic view of her body and needs extreme care. I cannot tell you how many people have suggested she ‘just go eat something.’ It isn’t that simple and this will not solve her issues. Anorexia nervosa is a mental illness and without proper medical care and psychiatric help, she will not be able to overcome it just by eating something.
The one thing I do not understand however is Eugenia’s circle of family, friends & boyfriend. Her mother (who has made an appearance on her videos and is actually overweight) does not seem too concerned with her daughter’s physique. I don’t want to make statements without knowing the full story but if my child was starting to look sickly, I would drag them kicking and screaming to get help no matter how much they hated me and protested in the process. Even Dr. Phil invited her on his show so he could offer his services and she refused. It is well known that a person cannot get help unless they are willing but in this case, Eugenia may not have much longer to live. If I was within her close network, I would be taking urgent action on her behalf. What do you think?
If nobody does step up for Eugenia, I believe one of two things will happen. Either she will die from organ failure and brain shrinkage or she will fall into a coma and if revived, will view this as her wake-up call to begin recovery. I hope it’s the latter. In the meantime, we need to give love to Eugenia not hate. She is suffering and compassion is paramount during this confusing time in her life. I really like Eugenia; she’s funny and very sweet. I hope she finds her way and puts her health first. I really wish people would stop abusing her. We need to sympathise with her and educate ourselves on how a mental illness can completely take over our lives. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder. Victims will either commit suicide or die from their bodies completely shutting down. I am sending all of my love to Eugenia and I hope everybody else does the same.
Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Peace & Love xoxo
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I’ve followed Eugenia Cooney for a while. I discovered her for the same reason as you did – other YouTubers were making hate videos towards her and so I checked out her channel. It is shocking to read so many hate comments on her YouTube and IG, and agree with you hate and tearing her down will not solve the problem.
Eugenia has never publically admitted if she has a problem and even her parents don’t seem to acknowledge it, at least not publicly in her videos. Maybe she is anorexic, or maybe she has a disorder where her body doesn’t absorb what she eats, maybe she has a disease, it could be anything. But looking skeletal is a worrying look and being a public figure at the same time is all the more worrying. While she may inspire with her fashion sense (which I think is cute), it is concerning that her figure can inspire so many out there to get down to look like her body-wise – and naturally body image and beauty are the bigger topics at play here.
Maybe she is using the way she looks to get attention. I really hope not because that would be very sick 🙁
I find it hard to tell if Eugenia is really happy in her videos. Ignoring the way she looks, I find that she comes across as someone who does what she loves (though I must say I am surprised a lot of the clothes she tries on fits her). I hope she is and if there really is anything going on with her, she is getting the help she needs. We all deal with our own issues in our own ways – some of us reach out to others, some of us prefer to keep quiet.
Hi Mabel! I absolutely agree with everything you wrote and I really like Eugenia too. I wish everybody was more compassionate towards her, hate never solves anything. It just inspires more hate. I hope she is happy and looks after herself before it’s too late. So much damage can be done just by a few taps on the keyboard. Sending her love x
I thought this was a very compassionate article. I worry about this girl. When I was in my teens I was very thin and really didn’t see it until my adulthood. When you are in the eye of the storm, you can’t see it. The hatred is what fuels the storm. Sick and twisted people like to fuel the storm be it fan or foe. She could be so lovely but feels opposite. I do judge her mom. This poor baby needs help. How is it not possible for someone to get a court order and have her comitted? She needs help!!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment – I’m glad you recovered as an adult and thriving now. I agree that hatred fuels the storm. It really just breeds more hate. I hope she gets all the help and love she needs before it’s too late ❤️😍
Thank you for this. You’re right, people can’t just expect her to eat and for everything to be absolutely fine again. Mental health issues need to approaches properly and with care. Some of these comments disgust me.
You’re very welcome 🙂 hatred solves nothing and she needs immediate care to get healthy. Have a lovely day 🙂
I agree with you completely. I strongly feel she is in denial and her followers and all the attention only enables her denial. Her followers are clearly enabling her continued denial of her problem and just accepting her for what she is offering which is her content. As noble as her endeavor and passion to help making people’s faces look presentable, she fails to recognize beauty and health go hand in hand. Whole body health is more than just painting the face to look pretty. Her efforts are to teach makeup and fashion. She is either too consumed by appearances or does not think having a healthy body is part of good appearance. Anitexia/ Body dysmorphic disorder are all medical terms we give to such individuals but fundamentally it’s a willful attempt at control.
Anorexia not Anitexia. Lol!
Thank you for your comment 🙂 I absolutely agree that whole body health is both inside and out. Having suffered with eating disorder thoughts in the past, I can see how it is a mental illness that can completely take over and distort your view of life. I hope she gets the help she needs in time!
I, only today, became aware of this young woman. I was on FB and a video of her and her mother appeared. I recognized her as very malnourished immediately. I also recognized her mother as obese; an odd combination. I was quite uncomfortable with the video .. obese mom, making over Goth daughter .. who is obviously malnourished. I was immediately very very concerned for this girls life. She is not meeting her nutritional needs. She does not have many years left to be alive if something doesn’t change.
I feel anger towards her mother. I am a mother and a grandmother. I do not know how this mother can enable this child to be so so sick and not actively get her help.
This girl should not be on social media with so many followers. I will say this again .. This girl should not be on social media with so many followers. She IS promoting anorexia. She IS influencing others to be like her. Young girls ARE choosing not to eat because of her. Let’s not play the ‘oh we can’t prove it’ game. Somethings are common sense.
I went through times in my life when I suffered from anorexia and bulimia. I have body image problems .. I SEE fat regardless of my size. I am the heaviest I have ever been. I feel uncomfortable .. I see this girl and I AM TRIGGERED to NOT eat. At my age, this is terribly unhealthy! If she triggers me .. she triggers others. It is irresponsible of YouTube to keep her posts active.
I completely agree with you and all you’ve said. Thank you for taking the time to comment. It is very concerning that this is continuing. As I mentioned in my post if I was close to her I would’ve dragged her kicking and screaming to get help. Clearly her mother doesn’t care very much. I hope she gets all the love and support she needs to work through her eating disorder and in the meantime she should take herself off of social media. I just wish people didn’t spew hate at her as this doesn’t achieve anything
Hi, I really love what you wrote about Eugenia, I feel the same way as you do. I, too, just learnt of her, and I spent over an hour watching her videos and reading comments that “fans” say to her. As one who has dealt with demons, I really don’t think them just spamming her that she’s anorexic is gonna be of any help, and it might probably do worse.. And especially those people who are just telling her to eat, it’s just like asking a depressed person to not be sad. I get that her fans care for her and they want her to get help, but they need to be less rude about it, at least most of them. The poor girl.. I truly hope she’ll be able to get the help that she needs soon.
Thank you! I cannot believe the awful things she has had said to her. Exactly as you said, telling someone who is depressed not to be sad achieves nothing. I truly hope she gets the help she needs before it’s too late 🌺
I’m sad for her she’s very sweet I pray she realizes she needs help before it’s too late .its sad to see her overweight mother sit next to her and act like nothing is wrong . Her mother can get her admitted somewhere and that would probably open her eyes to her condition. I’m saddened to see her family doing nothing .
Thank you for your kind comments. I truly hope she gets the help she needs as well. She’s such a lovely person with a kind heart. I don’t understand how they can do nothing 🙁
Like many viewers, I felt disturbed when I saw the ‘preppy makeover’ video. Rarely do we get to see Eugenia interact with her mother, but I couldn’t tell much about their relationship. It was just a lighthearted mother-daughter clash of what is perceived as stylish and aesthetically nice. And Eugenia is so much thinner now. She’s too old to be forced into treatment without an ‘order of commitment’, or whatever it is technically called, and going inpatient is so expensive that people with disorders are usually hospitalized just long enough to stabilize weight and get patients out of critical condition. I don’t know what her mother could do at this point, but a good start might be refusing to pay Eugenia’s cell phone bill and restricting use of Internet. Her home, her rules. An abrupt severing of ties with her fans would force Eugenia to talk to her mother, and I believe that’s part of the problem. They don’t talk. Mom may be afraid to make waves because she fears Eugenia will turn it around on her for being overweight, or she’ll lose her daughter’s friendship. I’m forty-five, and while my mother and I are friends, she will always be my mother first. People are afraid that changes could damage relationships.
Thank you for your comment – it’s nice to hear from a mother. I agree with everything you’ve written and drastic action must be taken. It’s so sad 🙁 something tragic will happen but by then it will be too late for the mother to step up. It’s so awful it breaks my heart
I just wonder why authorities havent taken custody of her. I feel like something isnt right in that household. Her mom is obese and she is anorexic and both of them are insisting that nothing is wrong. Clearly somwthing is wrong here.
I agree that something doesn’t seem quite right. How has nobody in her family done nothing about this? How has nobody outside of this done anything? Surely it can’t just be about her popularity. It’s so odd
I’m skinny. I’m a man of 46 years. Always been long and thin, but never anorexic. The point I would like to make is that if you isolate Eugenia, or me for that matter, as being underweight, then you must also denounce the overweight people. People often say they’re concerned or worried that I’m ‘too thin’ and these days I just flip it around and tell them I’m concerned about their fatness. Because I care.
I am skinny as well but I am not at Eugenia’s size. Please look at her pictures on Instagram closely. You can see all of her bones and her extremities are turning purple because of lack of circulation. Eugenia is quite clearly anorexic and I care about her health. I want her to stay alive but at this rate she will be dead in a matter of years maybe sooner. This isn’t isolation, it’s love.
How kindly of you. I often read YouTube comments and view them as a peep into society. It’s a rather frightening lense at times. Why are so many people implused to rage? In Eugenia’s case, they are directing it at someone whom they themeslves identify as ill. It says more about the commentor’s mental status than anything they verbally express. Sad so many would rather tear someone down, rather than build them up.
She’s an absolute darling young lady; and quite powerful in her own right. Rather than rag on her, and destroy what esteem she does have, perhaps supporting her would be best. She would make a ROCKIN spokesperson for ED and recovery. She has the fans, she has the personality, she just needs the perspective perhaps.
Thank you, I really appreciate your comment. I agree she would be a great spokesperson for ED and is such a sweet girl. I hope she gets the love and care she needs!
I’m worried about Eugenia. Sadly, she has gotten worse. She can no longer hide it behind makeup or baggy clothes. Nothing anyone says to her gets through. She either has to realize on her own that she needs help, or she may very well pass away. She is a very sweet person. I rarely watch her videos anymore because it’s too hard to see her getting worse. All we can do is pray she will seek help.
I noticed lately just how much worse she has gotten too 🙁 it’s so scary. I really like her and my heart breaks for her. I hope she sees what everyone else does soon
It may be possible that her family have attempted to get her admitted however the threshold for admittance may require her to lose even more weight before she is considered critical (under an involuntary order). Yes, I know that sounds peculiar but in Australia where I am from, a BMI of 12 is what we usually see for people getting admitted into hospital with Anorexia Nervosa. Anything higher can be a real battle as hospitals are horribly under-resourced. Going by how Eugenia presents on her videos, she definitely has the cognitive clouding that is present in individuals with AN. As she continues to lose weight her body will continue to prioritise vital organs over non essentials until her body shuts down completely. AN is one of the toughest mental illnesses to treat and unfortunately people don’t have a lot of sympathy for this condition. There needs to be a lot more education about the experiences people with AN and eating disorders in general go through as you’re right, all the hate, weight and food talk will not at all be helpful to Eugenia.
Thank you for your comment. I am from Australia too and had no idea you need a certain BMI to be admitted into hospital. You can already see her extremities turning blue from lack of blood flow. It’s seriously concerning. I agree that there needs to be a lot more communication and education about this condition. I hope she gets the help she needs…
Hello. I think this is a great article! I, too have been following Eugenia for quite some time. I can relate to her in a way because I have dealt with anorexia/an eating disorder in my life. & I absolutely agree that people simply telling her to “eat a pizza” or to just “eat” in general, Is not going to help her.
I know that there are a whole lot of people who truly & genuinely care about her & want her to get better. But, there are also way too many comments that say that she’s dumb, or weird, She’s a freak, she should go kill herself…It’s just terrible.
I can relate to being called dumb or weird or whatever, Because I’ve always been somewhat of an outcast in society. But some of the comments she receives…I just can’t understand or believe.
Eugenia is such a special young woman, She has a heart of gold. & She deserves only kindness & love.
So, with that being said, Thank you so much for this article. Let us all join together in hopes that Eugenia finds the strength to recover from this, & also that other young people don’t become influenced any longer by what she is doing, even though she might not realize it.
Have a blessed day.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I’m so glad you view the situation in the same way as I do. It hurts me so much to see such cruel and callous comments from others on her social media. Eugenia is a lovely person who needs more kindness and support not downright abuse. I hope you have recovered or are on recovery with your eating disorder. Wishing you all the best on your life journey. Bless x
I really loved this article! It is really much needed because of so many other people who are rude to Eugenia. Brunei ugly and mean will not help her realize that people do care about her and that it’s not too late yet. I too am concerned for Eugenia and really love her personality. I hope she can get the help she needs soon.
Being not brunei
Thank you so much for reading and responding! That’s so true. It’s nice to hear so many people care about her when all I seem to see is hate on her social media x
i care just enough about her to check on her monthly and watch her most recent video, see how she looks, etc.thankfully, these days, msopt of the comments i see are ones that are urging her to get help. And i upvote those comments, as well as leave my own sometimes, basically telling her that it’s ok, that we’ll still subscribe to her and watch ehr videos if she admits that she needs help and seeks treatment. (just in case she thinks that’s part of why people watch her). and i always try to say that even though i’m just a stranger on the internet, that i want her to be happy and healthy. i’m sad to see that you wrote this post over a year ago, heck, almost 2 years ago, and when i go to eugenias channel she still looks skeletal. honestly, when i remember to check on her, a lot of the time, if it’s been a little while, i’m always surprised that she hasn’t been hospitalized, because she’s so unhealthy.
i definitely don’t understand how her mother hasn’t drugged her and carried her little body to the hospital yuet, because i would have done that years ago if she was part of my immediate world. she would’ve been hospitalized 20 times over by now if necessary. but she’s not my friend or my child.
still, she’s a person, which is why all my comments are supportive ones that tell her that her fan base loves her, and that we want her to get help, because we want to see her happy and healthy.
Thank you for your kindness and understanding, you sound like a genuine Eugenia fan who doesn’t post hate but rather love and concern for her wellbeing. It is sad that is still going on 🙁 I pray that she gets the help she needs eventually before it’s too late. Keep doing what you’re doing. It may get through to her one day I hope!