Cherry Boone
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Cheryl "Cherry" Lynn Boone O'Neill (born July 7, 1954 in Denton, Texas) is an American writer, singer and recovered anorexic.
Cherry was born in Denton, Texas, the eldest daughter of singer and 1950s icon Pat Boone and Shirley Lee Foley Boone. She is the granddaughter of country music star Red Foley and has three sisters: Debby, Linda and Laura. With her sisters, Cherry was a member of the vocal group The Boones (best known for their cover of ABBA's "Hasta Maňana") during the 1970s.
Cherry came to public attention after the death of her friend Karen Carpenter from complications arising from anorexia. The pair had met in 1982 while Carpenter was attending resident therapy with noted psychotherapist Steven Levenkron in New York City, and Cherry at the time was a recovered anorexic and former patient. Later that year she published "Starving For Attention," about her life as an anorectic, and her recovery.
On October 4, 1975 Cherry married writer Dan O'Neill. In 1985 the couple wrote the book "Dear Cherry: Questions And Answers On Eating Disorders," which was a response to the letters she got from her first book "Starving For Attention." They later wrote a follow up book "Living on the Border of Disorder: How to Cope with an Addictive Person."
The couple have four daughters and one son: Brittany (b. 1981), Brendan (b. 1983), Casey (born 1986), Kevyn (b. 1989), and Kylie (b. 1992). The family reside in Sammamish, Washington.
