Painful Secrets: What Happens When Your Secrets are Revealed?

Imagine being a teenage girl with a big secret, and trying to hide it from everyone. Only to have that secret found out and spilled to those who would torment you the most for it. Dawn lives this so called ’secret’ and this movie portrays just what can happen when it is found out.

Painful Secrets is based on the novel, Luckiest Girl in the World by Steven Levenkron. Steven is a psychotherapist, dealing with those who are anorexic and self injure themselves.

The movie was directed by Norma Bailey, and was released on the lifetime channel in 2000. It portrays the pain that Dawn ( Kimberlee Peterson) goes through and how she copes with her pain. It shows the struggle of a family who has to deal with their teens pain and watch her die slowly. Her parents are portrayed by Sean Young and Robert Wisden. Cody Serpa plays her younger brother Alex who thinks Dawn is pathetic for what she does, and that is the reason she is friendless, and why their parents are fighting more.

Taylor Stanley plays Dawn’s best friend in the movie. However, they are only best friends if Lorraine is having a good day. Once or twice she goes off on Dawn as a result to her homelife. Her mother was dating an abuser who hit her and put her in the hospital.

Rhea Perlman plays Dawns therapist Dr. Parella. In the beginning Dawn is weary of going to the therapist. She tries to go one time to talk to the therapist but cuts instead. If that was not a cry out for help, I do not know what would be. However, after Dawn burns her arm many times with the car cigarette lighter she is forced to go to therapy, either of her choice or provided by the hospital So, she chooses Dr. Parella.

Her parents are relentless in the story. They will go to any means to get their daughter to stop the cutting. They take away everything Dawn has that is sharp, hide all the dinner knives, makes Dawn call every hour when she is out with friends or her boyfriend, and even checks Dawns body for new cuts. The last one seems ridiculous to me because that is in someways crossing the line on privacy. However, they are just doing it for her own good.

In the end Dawn’s mother chooses to leave their home for a while because she feels she is detrimental. She says she does everything to help Dawn but nothing seems to work. For the first time Dawn lets herself cry.

Does Dawn get better? Does she stop the cutting? To see these answers for yourself, I suggest checking out the movie. Keep on eye on your lifetime movie channels for your chance to see it!