R115 Yes he was. But as Karen's talents (drummer, bassist, and vocalist) emerged because she was tagging along with Richard, Agnes vindictively turned on Karen. HE was supposed to be the star, not Karen. There seemed to be jealousy both for Richard and for Agnes herself. Some do not know music was in their blood. There was an ancestor on the Carpenter side who sang in music halls and had quite a career. She apparently had a range similar to Karen's and they looked eerily similar.

The Carpenters appeared on "This is Your Life" early in their career. It's on DVD paired with the Shirley Jones episode, for all us music loving gays. Karen is wonderful during most of the show, happy, smiling, jovial,and greeting everyone with a hug. Then at the end, they bring out the parents. Karen's smile fades,her head lowers, and her whole demeanor changes to a more subdued, almost subservient in nature. Agnes carried out Karen's old pitcher's mitt and ball and made some comment about how much Karen loved to play. Karen replies, "That didn't mean I liked to play that much. I just liked throwing things at people."

R120 knows what she's talking about.

I agree with R122 . If Karen had realized that old bitch was never going to love and approve of her no matter what she did, she could have just said "Fuck off" and lived her life for herself, probably still be with us and had a long solo career. But she was trained to feel guilty for doing anything for herself. Richard even accused her of stealing the Carpenters sound for her solo album. Without her, there was no Carpenters sound! When Karen wanted to move out of the house she shared with Richard, she couldn't even face Agnes to tell her; she asked their personal assistant to do it. All Hell broke loose. Agnes screamed at both of them and the assistant was afraid of losing her job. She didn't, but the next time Karen came over, Agnes acted as if nothing happened, yet Karen was noticeably sheepish and quiet, walking behind her mother. When she and the assistant made eye contact, Karen smiled sadly and shrugged, as if to say, "Well, we tried."

The reason Karen was upset about her husband's vasectomy was she wanted children so very badly. She loved kids. As someone pointed out up thread,having a child in her physical condition was out of the question, not to mention the malnourishment of her body fouled up her menstrual cycle and it's possible she may not have even been able to conceive anyway. Karen's last public performance was actually solo. She was friends with a woman who was an elementary school teacher and Karen accompanied her to class. It was Christmastime, and Karen was dressed accordingly. She talked with the kids and they sang carols together. This was two months before her death.

I keep thinking with things the way they are today, Karen might have a partner now and they could adopt a child or two.