Forgive me if I'm a little late to this aspect of the story, but yesterday's backgrounder in the New York Times was the first I heard that Terri Shiavo had an
eating disorder.
It is now a common place that disorders such as bulimia nervosa and anoxeria nervosa are
...less often about food, and [have] more to do with deep psychological issues and profound feelings of lack of control.
These feelings of lack of control are often the result of an adolescent's struggle to establish independence from domineering parents. This suggests why Terri may have been attracted to Michael who in the same article is portrayed as having a controlling personality.
But how ironic is it that a woman who in seeking control of her body and her life should so completely loose control. So much so, indeed, that it would appear (certainly to viewers of cable news) as if an entire nation is battling to assert dominion over the body of a woman who never felt she was able to control her own fate.