Ellen West - Life

Life

Ellen West was born to a Jewish family in 1888. When Ellen was 10 years old, she and her family immigrated to Europe. As a young woman, she was stubborn, disobedient, intelligent, and obsessive compulsive. But while in school, she proved to be an ambitious and passionate student. She also enjoyed reading and writing poetry. As a young adult, Ellen had fluctuations with her weight and that was when her fear of becoming fat began. In her writings, she expressed her strong cravings for food, yet she had an extreme fear of gaining weight. These thoughts eventually led to the development of depression. In order to stay thin, Ellen started to take laxatives; sometimes taking as many as sixty to seventy packs a day. Ellen was given permission to marry her cousin at the age of 28. She became obsessed with wanting a child; however, she would not adjust her poor eating habits, which resulted in a miscarriage. Ellen decided to discontinue her use of laxatives in order to get pregnant, but her fears of weight gain overpowered her and she began using them again. She became so frail and unhealthy that she no longer got a menstrual period. When Ellen turned 30, she decided to become a vegetarian in hopes to maintain her thin figure. It wasn't until after three years of marriage, when Ellen was 31 years old and weighing in at 92 pounds, that she informed her husband of her severe eating disorder and depression.