COMMENTARY
By STACEY MORRIS
Published in The Post-Star newspaper 9/26/02
It's not often I get to meet a living tabloid headline face-to face.
But it happened Tuesday, when I covered Sarah Ferguson and her appearance as spokeswoman for Weight Watchers International at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Albany.
Ferguson is the former wife of Britain's Prince Andrew and is known as the Duchess of York. In tabloid headlines, she's also been called "Fergie," or the "The Duchess of Pork," depending upon her size at the time or the random mood of the publication's editorial staff.
Of all the members of Britain's Royal Family, via marriage or otherwise, Ferguson has been hands-down the most lambasted by all.
Ferguson has been roundly criticized about everything from not being as blonde or as thin as her sister-in-law, Princess Diana, to having a sex life after divorce, to the media's all-time favorite reason to sharpen its claws: her weight.
Anyone who's ever been ridiculed for any reason knows how painful it is. Imagine how it must feel to have the garden variety schoolyard bullying most of us have experienced taken to the exponential levels of "Entertainment Tonight" and People magazine cover stories.
But the very reason for Ferguson's visiting Albany signified that though she may once have been down and out, but it's indeed the dawn of a whole new day for the Duchess of York.
After finding Weight Watchers six years ago and dealing with the emotional reasons behind her overeating, Sarah Ferguson has become a glorious example of living well truly being the best revenge.
I wasn't sure what to expect when she took command of the stage Tuesday morning. Perhaps she'd offer a scripted pep talk about the importance of attending weekly meetings and getting in those eight glasses of water per day.
Instead, Ferguson told us unflinchingly about a profound sadness that began at age 12 when her mother essentially abandoned the family to marry a dashing Argentinian and live in Buenos Aires.
"I became a compulsive eater," she stated frankly. "It's how I compensated for the pain."
Sausages slathered with ketchup became the means by which she kept the grief buried inside.
Being the "fun one ó the one who made everyone else laugh," was Ferguson's other method of masking her pain.
When she became a public figure by marrying into the royal family in 1986, it seemed she might self-destruct from personal problems coupled with the tabloids inhumane scrutiny.
" 'The Duchess of Pork' wasn't the worst thing the tabloids said about me," she said. "One took a poll and said that 82 percent would rather sleep with a goat."
But instead of crumbling, Ferguson turned her life around. And she seemed to clutch her microphone a little more firmly when she looked out at the audience and said that if she could make it back from hell, anyone could.
When it came time for the media Q&A, I knew there was only one question I wanted to ask of her.
What, if anything, would she say to the media now ... and especially to Joan Rivers?
"Actually, I would like to thank them," said the living embodiment of the world's sweetest revenge. "I was out of control with my eating and my finances. I learned a lot about myself through their criticism."
Ferguson's strawberry blond hair and ruddy complexion glowed under the lights of a hovering TV crew as she thought about the road that led her to a hotel conference room in Albany.
"Because of them, I looked at my life and changed it," she said, a huge grin suddenly lighting her face. "So I thank them."