Father of Deceased Anorexic Model Isabelle Caro Says Wife 'Too Sad to Go On'

The mother of 28-year-old Isabelle Caro was "devastated" by the death of the anorexic French model, which led Marie Caro to commit suicide, her husband said today.

Marie Caro was also upset over an article written about Isabelle after her death. Marie died Jan. 7.

Christian Caro told AOL News that although Marie Caro and their daughter had a troubled relationship, they were also very close, and she could not bear to live without her.

"She was too sad to go on," he said. "She was devastated."

Isabelle often spoke about her mother's phobia about Isabelle growing up and gaining weight, as well as her mother's depression. She had a lonely, difficult childhood as a result and had been anorexic since the age of 13. She wrote a 2008 memoir titled "The Little Girl Who Didn't Want to Get Fat."

an Italian advertising campaign featuring French model and anorexia sufferer Isabelle Caro

Andreas Solaro, AFP / Getty Images

This picture taken in 2007 shows an Italian advertising campaign featuring French actress and anorexia sufferer Isabelle Caro. She died in November.

But friends also said Isabelle and her mother loved each other very much.

"They were fused together in a way," Christian Caro said. "It was too much for her when Isabelle died."

Caro spoke on the telephone from Paris, where he and Swiss singer Vincent Bigler were about to appear on the French television show "Direct 8" to promote a new song dedicated to Isabelle.

The music project is meant to benefit an association for anorexia victims that Isabelle created.

The song is a mix of a tune that Caro recorded with his daughter in 2001 and another song, called "J'ai Fin," that Isabelle's friend Bigler wrote after seeing a TV program about her on European TV. Caro spent four days recently in Switzerland working with Bigler on the song.

"I have to be strong and go forward," Caro said. "What else can I do?"

Isabelle Caro died Nov. 17 after returning to Paris from a business trip to Tokyo, but her death was not made public until the last week of December because her father had wanted to keep it quiet.

Caro said he blames the doctors at Bichat Hospital in Paris, where Isabelle died, for negligence resulting in her death and told AOL News he has filed a criminal complaint with Paris prosecutors.

In an interview with the Swiss newspaper 20 Minutes, he detailed the last hours of Isabelle's life at the hospital.

Sponsored Links

Caro became famous overnight when she posed nude for a shocking Italian ad campaign shot by Italian photographer Olivier Toscani for the Nolita clothing line in 2007. The images showed Caro's skeletal and emaciated frame, complete with bones sticking out from sagging skin.

The photographs were shown in newspapers and billboards all over Europe and in some parts of the U.S. and were titled "No Anorexia."

Christian Caro said his wife became especially upset and depressed after reading something Toscani had written in late December about Caro. Caro said they both read it online and thought what Toscani said was unkind.

Caro said the article is no longer online.

Toscani was not immediately available for comment today.