Fasting Girls: The Bizarre Victorian Fad Behind “The Wonder”

On a scale from American Hustle to Godzilla of “movies likely to be based on a true story,” Netflix’s The Wonder would seem to fall somewhere around Donnie Darko. This particular story of a girl whose family insists she never eats and doesn’t require food to live is not, in fact, true, which is probably a good thing. Not to spoil too much, but it’s pretty goddamn harrowing.

There were, however, plenty of girls and even a few poorly adjusted women who claimed to have fasted for years, mostly during the 19th century in Europe and America. Their reasons varied, from picking up a side hustle in the lucrative starvation exhibition business to just trying to catch a break from their awful parents, but it usually involved either their own religious convictions or that of others. Like a guy with a birthmark in the shape of the Virgin Mary, they were part miracle, part freak show.