NEW YORK: Nadia Comaneci, the gymnast sweetheart of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, was described in the March issue of Life Magazine as a spoiled, lying bulimic who deserted her family in Romania.
She was spoiled by Romanian officials after her three gold medals and perfect “10” score in Montreal, accepting favors from “butchers,” according to the magazine.
She was reputed to have been the mistress of Nicu Ceausescu, younger son of the executed dictator. She told Life writer Barbara Harrison that those stories were lies.
“Nadia issues denials, counter denials; she writes and rewrites the script, editing all the time,” the magazine reports.
For the first time, Comaneci confirmed she attempted suicide at 15 by swallowing bleach. She said she didn’t regret the suicide attempt because she spent two days in the hospital and missed two days of gymnastics training, “so I am happy.
Harrison describes a meal with Comaneci and says her appetite for food is voracious. “She eats her own food and too, after each course she goes to the bathroom. She comes back, her eyes watery, picks her teeth and eats some more.
The implication is that Comaneci, who now lives in California, makes herself vomit between courses, symptoms of the eating disorder bulimia, which is characterized by binging and purring.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 9, 1990
