Playwright Wendy Wasserstein Dies [at age 55. Death caused by obesity??]

Forbes ^ | Jan. 30, 2006 | MICHAEL KUCHWARA

[summer]

I am shocked and saddened by Wendy Wasserstein's death, which seems to me a premature death, at the age of 55.

I posted this article about her death because I find it so strange that none of the media is mentioning the word "obesity" in relation to her death, yet, 1 out of every 3 cancer deaths are connected to obesity -- and, she was extremely obese her entire life, as far as I know. I will post some photos of her.

I think the NYT and others do not want to mention the word "obesity" but they perhaps should be. Her death, as a single mom, at age 55, means she is survived by her 7 year old daughter.

Very sad.

[summer]

Wendy Wasserstein, 1985

[summer]

Wendy Wasserstein, 2000

[summer]

Here is how the NYT reported her death, which I find rather odd, in light of this Forbes article which makes it clear she had been suffering from cancer for awhile:

Wendy Wasserstein, who spoke for a generation of smart, driven but sometimes unsatisfied women in a series of popular plays that included the long-running Pulitzer Prize winner "The Heidi Chronicles," died today after a bout with lymphoma, Lincoln Center Theater announced. She was 55....

They make it sound like she got sick one weekend, and died right away. Very bizarre.

[summer]

I meant to type:

...1 out of every 3 cancer deaths is connected to obesity.

[summer]

FYI.

[jalisco555]

Hi Summer. Very sad story for sure. I'm unaware of any association between obesity and lymphoma. There have been postulated links between fat intake and breast cancer but the evidence is very tenuous. Obesity is certainly a risk factor for cancer of the endometrium (the inner lining of the uterus) but most of the time these obesity-related cancers are low-grade and cured by hysterectomy. Otherwise I'm drawing a blank.

Obesity is certainly related to diabetes, heart disease and a host of other medical problems but I think the cancer link is less of an issue.

[summer]

Hi jalisco555 -- See The Obesity-Cancer link from the American Cancer Society.

[summer]

From the above link:

A recent AICR survey showed that only six percent of Americans know that overweight and obesity increase cancer risk.

[sandbar]

Heavy or not, she was a lovely lady and very attractive. So sad about her daughter. No father, no mother. Very very sad.

[utahagen]

Given that the direct cause of Wendy Wasserstein's death was lymphoma, it would be editorializing to cite obesity as a possible indirect cause. Let readers form their own hypotheses about why any particular person gets lymphoma.

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

1 out of every 3 cancer deaths are connected to obesity -- and, she was extremely obese her entire life, as far as I know. I will post some photos of her.


I'm not sure I agree with this statement....stats to back it up. While obesity does cause health problems, 1 of 3 cancer death are most likely caused from smoking not obesity.

[tertiary01]

I don't think Jacqueline Kennedy fit that overweight scenario either.

[miss marmelstein]

Very, very sad. Why are so many women of my generation dying so young?? Beth Fallon - a NY Daily News reporter -just died of cancer in her late 50s.

Apropos of nothing, as someone who had the mispleasure of being in her plays as well as seeing some of the original productions, I think WW was a pretty mediocre playwright. Exceedingly p.c.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

I have 6 aunts who are very obese (one is almost 400 pounds), and are in their mid-90's to mid-100's. The one who recently died was 102.

Go figure.

[jalisco555]

Interesting links. Most malignancies are multi-factorial in their cause and it's very difficult sometimes to tease out one specific cause from the data. I'll be paying attention to this but, to be honest, I'm kind of skeptical. There are very few cancers where we can say that we know the cause (the best example of this is cervical cancer). Still, I'm embarassed to say that I was unaware of the speculation concerning insulin levels and malignancies so thanks for the info.

[Galveston Grl]

My brother died of cancer at age 54. He was physically fit and did not smoke. What made him get cancer? Guess what, Summer, you might get cancer, too. The skinny lady down the street might get cancer. Fat people, skinny people - they can all die "prematurely."

I once saw a death cert. for a man who died of diabetes at age 76. His kidneys finally failed and he could not get a transplant. He had the disease since childhood. The cause of death was marked as "smoking." So now you think that "fat" should be the cause of death when someone dies of cancer? How are you going to blame yourself when you get sick, Summer?

[summer]

Well, I am not sure what happend here -- that's why I put my comments in brackets, with question marks. However, while I don't actually expect the newspaper obits to mention a link if none exists or if it is unknown, I did find it very weird that they did not mention how obese she was her entire life. Or maybe they shouldn't. I don't know.

And, maybe it's just a link I am making in my own mind, because I happen to be well aware of what the American Cancer Society says about the link already found between cancer and obesity.

Whatever. Thanks for your comments and posts.

[RedMonqey]

Obesity or obscurity?

Never heard of her.


Then again I don't travel in toney upscale New York threatre circles....(heterosexual male conservative)

[summer]

I can relate to what you're saying -- I know someone who recently died of cancer who did ALL the right things for YEARS: no smoking, no drinking, ate healthy, not overweight, exercised, good marriage, loving family, etc. But, died of cancer. Then there are those who smoke cigars till they're 90 and get married and divorced repeatedly, and never exercise, overeat, etc. and yet somehow make it to their 90's. So, who knows...