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Celebrity Update: New Jersey “Tanorexic” Woman Arrested

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Iowa chapter.

What’s one way to become a celebrity overnight? Bring your 5-year-old daughter into a tanning booth with you!

Although this New Jersey woman may not make the cut for the “Smartest People in the World” list, she definitely knows how to go viral in 24 hours.

Within a few hours of the breaking news that Patricia Krentcil had allegedly taken her daughter into the tanning bed with her, she became a sensation on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and across national news stations.

Krentcil, 44, was convicted of second-degree child endangerment. Child services intervened after a nurse at daughter Anna’s school noticed she had a rash and bad sun burn. The little girl told her it was from going tanning with her mother.

Krentcil claimed she did not bring her into the booth, but just the room itself and that her daughter’s burn was from the sun—a day spent gardening—not from a tanning bed.

“I never once in my life let my daughter, especially at that age, go into a tanning booth,” Krentcil, who is out on $25,000 bail, explained, adding, “I’m very tan and I’ve been tanning my whole life.”

She lost her cool on Wednesday when she was questioned by a TMZ reporter about the charges she exposed her kindergartener to, potentially harmful ultraviolet rays.

“I’m a great mother and I would never do that to my child,” Krentcil said, while getting into a car.

Anna, who is currently in her father’s custody, has very fair skin and red hair, not the type of person who should be tanning anyways, regardless of her age.

In another clip by Reuters and the New York Daily News, Krentcil says with a look of disgust on her face, “I’m going to bring my little daughter into a 90 degree bed? I mean, that’s not normal.”

Although it doesn’t seem like she knows what normal is. In her interview on Tuesday night, her exposed skin appeared charred from tanning too much.

The owner of City Tropics tanning salon in Nutley, N.J., who only identified himself as Anthony, said Krentcil pays a flat fee of about $100 per month for unlimited tanning sessions, and that she tans about 20 times per month, roughly five days per week. The owner added that Krentcil does the maximum time of 12 minutes in a standup booth.

Dr. Joshua Zeichner, dermatologist, commented on the taneroxia, “In all my years of treating patients as a dermatologist, I have never encountered anything like this. Going to a tanning salon 20 times a month, frankly, is insane, especially with all of the public education and awareness campaigns on the dangers of tanning beds and skin cancers.”

He said she has an addiction to tanning and may not only need help being treated for the damage of her skin, but also what is going on with her psychologically.

Even Jersey Shore star, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi who has a passion for tanning as well said, “That bitch is crazy” when discussing Krentcil with Mario Lopez. “You are not supposed to take kids there. Everyone knows that you are NOT supposed to take kids there.”

Snooki who has been sporting a paler shade lately said it’s intentional. She tweeted that she “can’t tan” because she is pregnant.

If this soon-to-be mom knows this, why doesn’t Krentcil? Come on crazy tan lady get it together and stop tanning!

Sources:

Huffington Post

ABC News 

NY Daily News

Tanorexic 

Wet Paint

 

Emily is a junior at the University of Iowa and is studying Journalism and Pre-Law with a minor in Health Communication. She has been a part of the Her Campus University of Iowa team since it was founded in 2010 and is a member of Ed on Campus. She has grown to love magazine writing and editing and if she somehow can't land her dream job (to be Carrie Bradshaw), she wouldn't mind settling for a job in the magazine industry. If nothing else, she hopes to attend law school somewhere in the Bay Area out West, her favorite place to be. Since the age of 15, Emily spent her summers in California, doing internships and falling in love with San Francisco. Some of her other interests include her 4-month-old longhaired wiener dog Henry, blogging, celebrity gossip, sushi, Private Practice, fro-yo, being a journalism nerd, and anything involving good conversation with good people. Although she's not exactly sure of her plans for the future, she knows journalism will somehow be the driving force in her career.