Drywall – Central curtain rod support is ripping out

curtain-raildrywalldrywall-anchor

I used zinc drywall anchors to install a curtain rod. The area doesn't have studs. Given the length of the rod, there are three hangers: left, center and right. I noticed that the center hanger is damaging the drywall (it appears to be cracking under load: wall carck.
overall view
Questions:
Is the drywall at the center hanger too damaged to remove the anchors and replace them with toggle bolts?
Is it easy/recommended to remove the anchors and replace them with toggle bolts on the left/right sides as the drywall their doesn't exhibit cracking.
Is there a way to strengthen the drywall at the cracked area?

Best Answer

Curtain rods are a cantilevered load, meaning they will pull on the anchor. Drywall anchors don't do well with pulling loads.

The better fix would be to add some supporting bracing to take the cantilevered load and transform it into a shear load. For example using a steel wire to a hook a foot or so above the support.