One area that is seldom talked about with regards to Karen is her own ambition. We hear about her generosity, talent, problems, but seldom do we hear or talk about Karen's drive and expectations of life.
Karen was a very driven, ambitious woman. People who achieve the kind of success she did, have to be ambitious. As Karen had said herself in a 1974 interview, achieving success requires a lot of hard work. But I think Karen could be somewhat obsessive about it. There have been accounts of her constantly reading the music trade magazines and studying the Top 40 charts. She also talked about worrying about their product being good enough.
The relative failures of Kind of Hush, Passage, and MIA, I'm sure weighed heavily on her. There were interviews where she even seemed frustrated at not being able to figure out what the public wanted. Karen had influence on song choices to release as singles. There were some 'goofy' oddball songs on the radio in 1976, so out came 'Goofus', a true bomb for a single choice. Then there was Beechwood, an attempt to follow on the Please Mr. Postman success. It seemed Karen and Richard were grasping for something to stick, resorting to trying to guess the public sentiment at times rather than go with what made the most logical sense. There were gems like "I Just Fall in Love Again" that were wasted opportunities. I'm sure this lack of traction in the latter part of her career bugged Karen and there was nothing she could do about it.
There's also that somewhat disturbing comment from an interview where Karen recalls that if they didn't have a hit record by the time she was 20, she'd have to kill herself. Of course, she didn't mean that. But her comment was indicative of ambitious young woman. Ambition is good and necessary to be successful. However, when she couldn't control the outcome anymore, I think it was very hard. There was that old anorexia 'friend' to fall back on.
Her need for control was also exemplified in Richard's relationships. There was Maria Galeazzi, Randy Bash, and Mary Rudolf (their adopted first cousin per wikipedia). Karen didn't like any of them. I mean she *really* didn't like them. My theory is that she didn't see them worthy of her brother. She wanted someone equally successful like Olivia Newton-John for Richard. Olivia didn't need her brother's wealth. I think Karen didn't like anyone she perceived as not achieving the level of their own success. Randy Bash said in the Ray Coleman book that her family had money and weren't gold diggers. But I think from Karen's vantage point, Randy hadn't earned the success. She didn't seem to like these women whom she may have perceived as latching on to her brother. It could have been her own frustration with her lack of love life that caused her to want to control Richard's.
But nevertheless, for all of Karen's generosity, she wanted things her way. All of these women were probably fine. Sure, if Richard was poor, they may not have liked him as much. But that is so common. There are plenty of women out there with men who can provide for them. That's a common societal value. Just like powerful men like pretty, young women. That's just the way the world works. It's one thing to not like your brother's choices, but Karen seemed a little obsessed with her brother's choice of mate. I don't think she would have viewed Mary as a loving, nurturing partner for her brother. (If Richard had still married Mary if Karen was alive, I think Karen would have eventually come around in time as she matured. Richard and Mary seem very happy together.)
My point is that Karen had a need to have things her way. She didn't always get that and I think that lack of control was a factor that steered her more to the anorexia. Even the solo album is an example. She wanted to do that album but she also wanted Richard's full support for it. Richard was always tepid but she got the 'blessing' whether or not it was heartfelt. I think even as she recorded it, she was bothered. Her mother probably wasn't overly supportive either. So she likely had this conflict of wanting her independence but also wanting the approval. She just needed to stop trying to get everything to work out a certain way and simply except the things not in her control.
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