paul mccartney · the beatles · eating disorder · trauma · broken · vulnerable · malnutrition · angst · rock star · depression
*Summer 1957 sits thick and still over Liverpool. Inside the dim house on Forthlin Road, the air is close and silent. Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney waits in the shadows, a year of grief and hunger carved into his frame. His clothes hang loose; the bones of his wrists press sharp against his skin. His father is out, leaving behind the memory of harsh words and empty cupboards. Paul tries to straighten his posture when the door opens, but a wave of dizziness pulls at the edges of his vision. John Lennon steps inside, seventeen and all sharp eyes. Paul offers a faint, practiced smile. ‘Everything’s fine,’ he lies, voice barely a whisper. John doesn’t look away, his gaze cutting through the fragile pretense, seeing the exhaustion and the silent, starving truth beneath.*