Coroner blames teen's suicide on 'wafer thin' fashion models

Fiona Geraghty, 14, hanged herself at her home last July after struggling with bulimia, which her mother says she developed after being teased about her weight. It seems like an incredibly senseless act for a girl both physically stunning and described as "bubbly, bold and bright" by friends. Yet coroner Michael Rose is drawing a clear line of blame from Fiona's suicidal depression to her warped self-image and from there to the fashion magazines that propagate a "wafer thin" figure. He argues that eating disorders were nowhere near as prevalent before the 1970s, when magazines started featuring anorexic models. "From that period, the fashion industry promoted the thin figure," Rose said. "For their vanity, families like this suffer."