In 1956 my stepfather died during surgery to correct a heart condition. I was devastated. A few days later , in the middle of his wake, I got a call from my agent that producer Ross Hunter wanted to meet me. I traipsed over to the interview in jeans and a sweatshirt, all black. I didn't care. I didn't know who he was. I read a few lines of a script and thought I would never see him again. But six weeks later, he had me flown out to Hollywood to test for The Restless Years and my movie career was launched. Universal Studios signed me to a seven year contract, and my mother and I moved out to California. I was immediately loaned out to MGM for Until They Sail. I got to work with stars like Paul Newman and Jean Simmons. It turned out to be one of the best films I had made.
I was already anorexic when I arrived in Hollywood. I was 5'5" and weighed about 90 pounds. The studio worried about me. They'd always ask, "Did you eat?" But I wanted to be thin. Then someone told me I could eat and not get fat if I went to this woman, an exercise teacher , in the valley. She told me about epsom salts. Eat food, drink a little epsom salts and throw up. I started with two ounces of the salts. When that stopped working after a few months, I increased the amount. Finally one day I took eight ounces. My mother found me unconscious on the bathroom floor. I was rushed to UCLA Medical center in cardiac distress. It turned out the epsom salts had deleted my body of potassium.
My anorexia caught up with me again before I finished at MGM. During a rehearsal one day , I was sitting in a chair and suddenly my pants were splitting. I couldn't bend my knee. Within hours I went from 90 lbs. to 105 lbs. It was severe edema caused by lack of protein. My mother and doctor fed me red meat around the clock. After I was married I suffered 6 miscarriages . A doctor later told me that they were due to the horrible way I treated my body.
My first year and a half in Hollywood I did three films. Then in 1959 I was in Gidget, Imitation of Life and A Summer Place. After that I was a star. It was fun. But it was my mother who really loved all my acclaim. She was in her glory--until I met the dreaded Bobby Darin.
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