Daily Mirror

Lena’s tiny coffin was white like a child’s.. it was a poignant reminder of her life THEY chose a white coffin for Lena Zavaroni, whose star shone so brightly and so briefly, like they do for a child.

Four men bore it lightly on their shoulders after her funeral yesterday.

The sight was a poignant reminder of how little there was of Lena physically when she died, aged 35, during an operation to relieve her obsession with dieting after suffering for 22 years with anorexia.

But the words spoken in church recalled just how much of an impact she made with the power of her voice and the force of her warm and vibrant personality when she was a child and in her prime.

In his address during the 70-minute Mass at St Augustine’s RC church in Hoddesdon, Herts, her uncle, David Fisher, spoke of her “truly remarkable, heart-stopping and amazing display of talent, which touched the heart of anyone who saw her perform”.

He said: “It was a true talent, a gift given to very few people on this earth.”

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Daily Record

BONNIE SAYS FAREWELL; Lena lived in a grey, grey world .. it was like she was in a plane flying in a storm

FORMER child star Bonnie Langford said goodbye to her old friend Lena Zavaroni at an emotional funeral service yesterday.

Tragic Lena, 35, died following a 22-year battle against an eating disorder.

Hundreds of loyal fans wept yesterday as her uncle, David Fisher, lamented: “Her whole world was a grey, grey world.”

Bute-born Lena met fellow child prodigy Bonnie at the Italia Conti stage school before shooting to fame on TV’s Opportunity Knocks with her first hit song, Ma, He’s Making Eyes At Me.

The pair stayed friends and in 1978, appeared together in an hour-long TV special, Lena and Bonnie.

But while Bonnie’s career as an actress, singer and dancer went from strength to strength, Lena’s life was blighted by her lengthy battle with anorexia.

Two weeks ago, she died weighing just three-and-a-half stone following a controversial brain operation to cure her illness.

Bonnie was the only one of her former showbiz pals to join the hushed mourners in Lena’s adopted home town of Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.

Family members from Scotland had made the journey south, and among the congregation were several young women whose bodies were clearly ravaged by the same disorder which claimed Lena’s life

One, clutching a supportive arm of a grim-faced parent, shuffled silently close to Lena’s closest friend Ellie Dalziel - herself an anorexic - to touch her arm and whisper words of grief.

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