Marilyn put on more and more weight. She became grotesquely obese. Signs of severe depression were very noticeable. She stopped taking care of the home and the children and withdrew into her own world in the basement of the house. (From the Criminal Library Website, the entry on Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, a paragraph on Paul Bernardo’s parents, his mother, Marilyn.)
Spare a thought or two for Paul Bernardo’s mom.
Life is tough. You fall in love with a guy but he’s uneducated so your father forbids you to marry him. You marry some other guy and he cheats on you and beats you. You have an affair with the guy you first fell in love with and have an illegitimate child you name “Paul”. You put on more and more weight and eventually you find yourself living in the basement of your own house, indifferent to everything, wallowing in your own grotesque prison of flesh and disappointment.
You son grows up to be a psychopathic killer and notorious for some of the most shocking crimes in the history of this province. Nice life.
It is for Paul Bernardo’s mom that the tv sings it’s siren song of comforting anesthesia. The one thing I’m sure she has down there, in her basement, is a tv. And all the illusions of life that make everything glamorous and good chunnel into her basement through the cable and make things seem right and true and good.
From the same website (crime library):
Paul used Amway techniques in many facets of his life, not only in sales and business but also in personal relationships.