Mallary Tenore is the author of “Slip,” a book about eating disorder recovery. For her, the subject is personal.
Tenore, a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin, was 11 years old when her mother died of breast cancer.
As an adult, Tenore recognizes the impact her mother’s death had on the onset of her eating disorder.
She said, “I thought it made me special, and I thought it made me feel closer to my mother by staying the same size I was when she was alive.”
Tenore’s pediatrician didn’t recognize the severity of Tenore’s disorder.
“He said it was a passing phase. He told my dad not to worry . . . and so my dad took his advice, and I continued to restrict and to lose weight,” said Tenore.