People always laugh when they hear the title, Does This Show Make Me Look Fat? But the show isn’t just funny.

It’s about my struggle with anorexia, from about the age of 18, why it began, and why it persisted. I wanted to do this show because it’s been a part of my life for so long, and I knew that it would help people who are also struggling – and not just struggling with anorexia, but also with the need to control the uncontrollable in their lives. People who struggle with impossible quest for perfectionism and other addictions, as well.  

I wanted to meet the challenge of doing a show about a serious subject and make it entertaining. And because it’s entertaining, I think that people can absorb more easily what I went through, what I go through, and how so many people are going through similar experiences. One of the most gratifying things about this show, for me, was how many people in the audience related to it, even if they did not have the same, exact journey as I did.

You’ll get a chance to see my family, you’ll see me as a little kid, my early childhood rituals, my parents’ constant arguing, and, in a more global sense, you’ll see how our society gave rise to this epidemic in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s.

The show runs the gamut of emotions. It’s alternately hilarious and shocking, as is life. It’s a fair appraisal of what it was like to grow up the youngest child in a middle-class family who simply felt that she was not good enough and decided that being the skinniest person in the world would make her worthy of love. 

Here’s a quote from Carol Leifer, comedian/author and writer on “Seinfeld,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and “Hacks”:

“My pal, Cathy Ladman, has done it! She’s taken a very personal, very emotional, very important subject and made it FUNNY! Go see her one-woman show. I guarantee you will be moved, but more importantly, you will LAUGH!”

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