Caroline Adams Miller

They were the first siblings to go one, two in an event in the 1912 Olympics, the standing high jump, Ben and Platt Adams. Platt got the gold, Ben got the silver. And those were the stories I heard. And my parents were intelligent and smart. We were supposed to have great grades and go to the right schools and all the rest of it.

So the standards for me were extraordinarily high and failure was not tolerated. And there was abuse in my home. And it's not something I want to go into publicly, but too publicly, because I do talk about it in my books. But there was a lot I had to overcome in order to love myself and to feel like I was worthy to live. And so it was lonely. It was sad. It was my secret for seven years.

So the standards for me were extraordinarily high and failure was not tolerated. And there was abuse in my home. And it's not something I want to go into publicly, but too publicly, because I do talk about it in my books. But there was a lot I had to overcome in order to love myself and to feel like I was worthy to live. And so it was lonely. It was sad. It was my secret for seven years.

So the standards for me were extraordinarily high and failure was not tolerated. And there was abuse in my home. And it's not something I want to go into publicly, but too publicly, because I do talk about it in my books. But there was a lot I had to overcome in order to love myself and to feel like I was worthy to live. And so it was lonely. It was sad. It was my secret for seven years.

I kept thinking if I just did something else, it would go away. Like if I got into Harvard or Yale or Stanford or whatever, the bulimia would go away. If I did a swimming time that was great, made junior Olympic cuts, it would go away. If I brought great SAT scores, it would go away. And it, nothing ever helped. And so when I went to Harvard, it was my last hope. I'm at Harvard.

I kept thinking if I just did something else, it would go away. Like if I got into Harvard or Yale or Stanford or whatever, the bulimia would go away. If I did a swimming time that was great, made junior Olympic cuts, it would go away. If I brought great SAT scores, it would go away. And it, nothing ever helped. And so when I went to Harvard, it was my last hope. I'm at Harvard.

I kept thinking if I just did something else, it would go away. Like if I got into Harvard or Yale or Stanford or whatever, the bulimia would go away. If I did a swimming time that was great, made junior Olympic cuts, it would go away. If I brought great SAT scores, it would go away. And it, nothing ever helped. And so when I went to Harvard, it was my last hope. I'm at Harvard.

This is the pinnacle of achievement for so many people and I'm miserable and I'm getting worse. So I had this double life. I had all kinds of medical complications. Again, Nobody knew what to look for because nobody knew how to treat it. So I had crumbling teeth. I'd never had my period. I didn't even get my period till I was 22. And I was losing all of my passions, playing the piano, swimming.

This is the pinnacle of achievement for so many people and I'm miserable and I'm getting worse. So I had this double life. I had all kinds of medical complications. Again, Nobody knew what to look for because nobody knew how to treat it. So I had crumbling teeth. I'd never had my period. I didn't even get my period till I was 22. And I was losing all of my passions, playing the piano, swimming.

This is the pinnacle of achievement for so many people and I'm miserable and I'm getting worse. So I had this double life. I had all kinds of medical complications. Again, Nobody knew what to look for because nobody knew how to treat it. So I had crumbling teeth. I'd never had my period. I didn't even get my period till I was 22. And I was losing all of my passions, playing the piano, swimming.

I had to drop out of swimming. I couldn't keep it up with this double life. So it was the hardest, saddest, most suicidal period of my life. And then I was asked on a date, one of my first dates in my life, my sophomore year, I'm five, 10 and a half. I think I just looked, I didn't look like somebody you could approach and I was miserable on top of it.

I had to drop out of swimming. I couldn't keep it up with this double life. So it was the hardest, saddest, most suicidal period of my life. And then I was asked on a date, one of my first dates in my life, my sophomore year, I'm five, 10 and a half. I think I just looked, I didn't look like somebody you could approach and I was miserable on top of it.

I had to drop out of swimming. I couldn't keep it up with this double life. So it was the hardest, saddest, most suicidal period of my life. And then I was asked on a date, one of my first dates in my life, my sophomore year, I'm five, 10 and a half. I think I just looked, I didn't look like somebody you could approach and I was miserable on top of it.

So this man approached me and he asked me out. And on our third date, we agreed we'd get married. I got engaged at 19. He was captain of the Harvard lacrosse teams, really handsome guy. And I thought this is it. I'm going to get married and I'm going to get married and it's going to go away. So I got married nine days after I graduated from Harvard and I went on my honeymoon and it was a disaster.

So this man approached me and he asked me out. And on our third date, we agreed we'd get married. I got engaged at 19. He was captain of the Harvard lacrosse teams, really handsome guy. And I thought this is it. I'm going to get married and I'm going to get married and it's going to go away. So I got married nine days after I graduated from Harvard and I went on my honeymoon and it was a disaster.

So this man approached me and he asked me out. And on our third date, we agreed we'd get married. I got engaged at 19. He was captain of the Harvard lacrosse teams, really handsome guy. And I thought this is it. I'm going to get married and I'm going to get married and it's going to go away. So I got married nine days after I graduated from Harvard and I went on my honeymoon and it was a disaster.

I was purging on my honeymoon. And that's when I looked in the mirror and said to myself, this thing is going to kill you. It's going to kill you unless you figure out how to overcome it. And the last part of my story I'll just say is I was living in Baltimore at the time and just by the grace of God, and I do mean just sheer luck.

I was purging on my honeymoon. And that's when I looked in the mirror and said to myself, this thing is going to kill you. It's going to kill you unless you figure out how to overcome it. And the last part of my story I'll just say is I was living in Baltimore at the time and just by the grace of God, and I do mean just sheer luck.

I was purging on my honeymoon. And that's when I looked in the mirror and said to myself, this thing is going to kill you. It's going to kill you unless you figure out how to overcome it. And the last part of my story I'll just say is I was living in Baltimore at the time and just by the grace of God, and I do mean just sheer luck.

There were 12 step recovery meetings there for compulsive eaters where I found and met people in recovery from bulimia. I just got goosebumps thinking about this. It was life changing. It was February of 1984 and I was sitting there defensive and not talking. And then this woman said this sentence, she said, my name is Betsy. I'm changing her name.