Watch Sharrie Williams on the "Bulimia Sucks Podcast". With Physiologist and Host, Kate Hudson Hall.
When Sharrie married Gene Dorney in 1973, the groom had Evelyn, Bill and Tom Lyle's approval and the young couple was expected to go on and have a perfect life. Gene after all was a handsome, young attorney with with a bright future and Sharrie imagined her life would be one of perpetual entertaining in her beautifully decorated home, buying designer clothes from her father's designer dress store in Newport Beach's famous Fashion Island and playing the part of the young “Maybelline Queen” in waiting.
Then her grandmother, Evelyn, squandered her fortune, was murdered, and Sharrie's marriage ended.
Broken by the chain of frightening events, she sat in her art- deco living room holding her five-month-old baby, not knowing where to begin. Her addictive lifestyle had overshadowed loving relationships, shopping had replaced spiritual growth and drugs helped free her hungry heart.
After separating from her husband, she realized, with the help of a therapist, that money, glamour, food, alcohol, drugs, and superficial attention couldn’t replace what she was secretly yearning for. She was unable to look past her own reflection - until the mirror shattered and her life was in shreds. Her therapist told her It would take hard work to change the course she was on and reprogram old patterns of isolation, depression, addictions and loneliness. She could no longer live her life waiting to show up at the next event looking smashing, yet unapproachable.
Months of therapy turned into years, but eventually maturity forged a real person with meaningful values. Sharrie worked with a nutritionist who helped her clean up her bloodstream and taught her how to adhere to a healthy diet. She joined a woman’s support group where she was shocked to find out that people were inspired by her story. She joined a church and learned to participate in life and give back to the community. Journaling every day opened the door to something wonderful she didn’t know she had: intuition.
For the first time in her life, she wanted to go back to college. A Psychology major appealed to her, and after many hard years of study and believing in herself, she earned a Bachelors degree in Psychology in 2001. A single parent, she raised her daughter and was proud to be the mother of the bride in 2002. Finally after 30 years of journaling, researching and gathering pictures and documents from her family she finished her book The Maybelline Story - a tribute to her family and the company behind it.
