It is a fundamental truth that in every New York Observer article, there is at least one quote that makes you stop and say, “Oh God. That person is going to get pilloried on the blogs later.” It may even be New York law at this point. Today that person is Stephanie Vann, 42, the great-niece of jewelry scion Harry Winston, who is featured in today's Observer trend piece about FFKs: Former Fat Kids of New York. You see, Stephanie was ridiculed for being chubby by her classmates at the tony Birch-Wathen school and then … well, just read on:

She was “10 or 15 pounds overweight,” she said. “But growing up in Manhattan, on Park Avenue, even five pounds overweight was just too much.”

She spent the better part of a decade in and out of fat camps. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, she went from her regular weight of about 130 pounds to 96 pounds. “I’d go clothes shopping. … I was so happy that I needed to ask for a zero,” she said. “People thought I was either anorexic or had a coke addiction. But I felt so good being so skinny for the first time in my life.”

Is this really what it’s come to, people? A city that makes its residents happy that they have cancer? —Noelle Hancock

Ex-Chubettes Unite! Former Fat Kids Let It All Out [Observer]