It's a tragedy.

Karen Carpenter had a near perfect voice. Her songs are gorgeous, yet she never found the love or happiness she deserved and starved herself to death at the young age of 32.

Bizarrely her death became comic fodder and in death she became a joke. The same happened to Elvis Presley but at least his behavior in the years preceding his death made himself into a caricature. Karen Carpenter did nothing to warrant the ridicule that followed her death.