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 By the end of 1978, Richard's addiction
to Quaaludes had left him unable to continue to perform. Karen,
who was still very driven, although noticeably ill, was not
ready to sit still and told her brother of her want to make
a solo album. Richard was against this only because he felt
she was in no condition to be making an album.
Karen went to New York City to start work on her solo
album with Phil Ramone(pictured above). Ramone
was made aware of Karen's anorexia but was not aware of
the magnitude of the illness. He remembers during
early sessions working on her solo that Karen looked good
and seemed to eat like everyone else.Karen went back to
Downey, CA after completing a few songs very happy with
the results.
 In October,
Karen and Olivia Newton-John went to San Diego for a few
days at the Golden Door health farm. Karen was "painfully"
thin. Ramone remembers that upon her return to NY in the
fall of 1979 to continue with the recording, he saw an 80 pound "Auschwitz
figure." Itchy (Phil Ramone's wife pictured to the left with
Karen) had mentioned that while Karen was living with them in Pound
Ridge, NY, she began finding laxatives around the house. Karen
had said they were there as a security and that she was not taking
them.
During a photo shoot for her solo album,
Karen commented to her good friend
"Itchy" Ramone, "Look at me, Itch, I'm pretty.
I'm really pretty." (She was wearing an oversized white
sweatshirt and made up)Winter Karen wanted to create a new
album with Richard, but he would not until she started to see someone
and "just start eating." Karen did not have the
strength and looked like a "rail." She agreed and
began to see an internist in Beverly Hills. This helped for
a short time and gained to 106 pounds adding some color back into
her cheeks. But after a short time, panic set in, as with
many anorexics, and she was back to her old anorexic ways. 
Karen's health deteriorated over the
next two years and she refused to get help. Meanwhile Richard
was having trouble with prescription drugs and decided
to seek help, taking off virtually the whole of 1979. Karen
visited Richard several times during his treatment, but
on one particular occasion -
Richard's quote: Karen
- always looking for something to do, and always wanting
to record - said, 'Well, if you're not working this year,
I want to make a solo album'. Of course I wasn't happy
about that, chiefly because I knew damn well she was battling
anorexia nervosa! And I said to her, 'I'm in here doing
something about this; why don't YOU go and check into something
that is meant for anorectics?' And I remember saying 'We'll
hit the new decade the same way we hit the seventies' You
know? But of course she said, 'No!! There is nothing wrong
with me, I don't have anorexia nervosa, I have colitis'.
And off she went to make the solo album! But I remember
she was upset about upsetting me and she called me the
night before she was planning on going and said she really
couldn't go through with this unless she had my blessing.
And she was pretty distraught, I'll tell you; she was in
tears....and I said 'Karen, if you really want to, go ahead
and do it! I just don't feel you're well' - which of course
she wasn't.
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| Karen pictured with Phil Ramone
(Producer) during her solo sessions |
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