While Rescue Me star and Miss Worcester second runner-up Denis Leary may have rankled some with his book's assessment of autism sufferers as being "dumb-ass kids," "junior morons," and "dumb, lazy, or both" ("Totally out of my book's context!" rebutted Leary), one true believer in the disorder—an outspoken activist, in fact—is Jenny McCarthy. Where she veers from her fellow crusaders is in her theory on its cause: She blames the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccination of draining the life out of her young son Evan, and giving him autism. Now she's raising even more eyebrows by claiming on the cover of the current Us Weekly that she "saved [her] son" through "a strict no wheat-and-dairy-free diet." From usmagazine.com:

"Before the vaccination, he was huggy, lovey, snuggly," she says in the newest issue of Us Weekly. "Then it was like someone came down and stole him."

McCarthy, 36, remembers when Evan began to come out of his shell while watching a SpongeBob episode. "I heard Evan laugh...I jumped on the bed and started screaming." She adds, "When he finally hugged me, I prayed, 'Please God don't let this be the only time.'"

 [...] "I made a deal with God," she explains. "I said, 'You fix my boy, you show me the way and I'll teach the world how I did it.'"



As you can see from the accompanying photographs, Evan appears to be a perfectly happy, healthy, mom-groping little boy. We can only hope the Travoltas—who too are rumored to have a child with the disorder—are soon made aware of McCarthy's holistic approach, and that a gluten-free lifestyle will have their little one honking Kelly Preston's jubblies in no time.