14 DAY TRIAL // The name Dara-Lynn Weiss might not ring a bell, but the story of the mom who put her 7-year-old on a diet might. Weiss is speaking out again to defend herself, but also to promote the new book she has coming out, chronicling her and her daughter’s road to a slimmer figure and, of course, good health.
Weiss was thrilled when she was asked to write an article for Vogue, so little did she think that it would come back on her.
The piece ran in the April 2012 issue of the fashion bible, and documented Dara-Lynn and her daughter’s road to better health, after she put the girl on a diet.
Any other parent would have done the same in her place, Weiss says in a new interview. Video of it is available here.
She understands how this may look from the outside but, at the end of the day, it was her daughter’s health that was at risk, especially since specialists had warned her that the girl was, indeed, overweight.
She’s now documented the experience in a new book called “The Heavy: A Mother, a Daughter, a Diet,” which she hopes will help everybody understand why she opted to act the way she did.
“There were many days where I said: ‘Nope, I'm not putting myself through this, I'm not putting my family through this.’ I think what I have to say is very important, but I don't want to be the lightning rod for this incredibly sensitive issue and subject myself to all this backlash in the name of being honest,” she explains.
“I really had to push myself to say, ‘You're already out there. This story is already out there’,” Weiss says.
In the same interview, she highlights the need for childhood obesity to be treated like a serious problem. Weiss is certain any other parent would have taken the same kind of action she did.
“You're not always going to make decisions that make your children happy in that moment and that's what being a parent is. It's not always fun. It's not always easy,” she says.