First post here after reading all the gossip during lockdown. So thought I'd give back although I can only offer model gossip (I used to be in the industry). Trigger warning for eating disorder talk.
Never believe straight size models when they post huge meals on instagram or give interviews saying they eat a lot. Most models keep their weight down with very regimented/restrictive eating and/or cigarettes, coffee, drugs and clear soup. Eating disorders abound and most models are weighed and monitored by their agencies. A lot of models have lanugo which they shave off.
Plus size models are big users of and encouraged to seek strategic liposuction. If you see a plus size model with a super sculpted face then lipo and sometimes buccal fat removal are your answers. Chin and jaw implants are also not unheard of, neither is waist work. Agencies want the plus size curves without the plus size side-effects. Some do it in the hope of a contract, others are advised once they have a contract with an agency.
Most fashion/editorial images you see are altered even if they're being sold as candids or behind the scenes catwalk/fashion week snaps. They smooth out skin, remove dimples and stretchmarks from plus size and straight size models, hide pores and remove any signs of eating disorders and drug habits (dark circles, damaged teeth and nails, lanugo, etc.).
Model agencies have been known to push up or mark down their models heights to get them booked. Both too tall (over 6ft) or too short (under 5ft9) is considered unattractive in the industry unless they're a name or have been heavily invested in (some agencies scount their models and invest in them from the age of 12).
Gigi Hadid is very sweet but has a drug problem. Pressured by both her agency and her mother to drop weight. Can get very swollen from drug misuse and eating disorder. Shorter than her card height. Has a naturally round face and genetic jowliness and was pressured to have surgery to correct it, I'm not sure if she did. Her mother is a nightmare (loud, obnoxious, always around), pressured both daughters to get breast implants and lives vicariously through them - Gigi is her favorite and she doesn't hide it at all.
Bella Hadid is incredibly insecure and a bit dim. Her surgery looks amazing in photographs but bad in person. Her nose is one surgery or one bad night away from collapsing. She has really terrible personal hygiene. Gets drunk easily and becomes obnoxious when she does. Eating disorder and coke fiend. Shorter than her card height.
Natalia Vodianova: hyper focussed and always has her eyes on the prize. Quiet, very smart, kind to no-name models.
Alyona Osmanova went from straight size model to plus size model. Very insecure to start with and became even more insecure as a plus size model so went on an extreme diet to return to the straight size division: she went from being anorexic to having binge eating dosorder to being bulimic on the advice of her agency. It took its toll on her mentally and physically.
Crystal Renn, one of the original plus size stars of the 2000s, owes her transition to straight size model to drugs. Ruined her personality. Ruined her teeth. Had some surgery to deal with the effects of the switch.
Ashley Graham loves her cosmetic tweaks and liposculpting. Has had lipo on her jawline, chin, ankles, back and hips as well as facial filler and botox.
Gemma Ward was chewed up and spat out by the fashion industry. She was far to sensitive for it. Big name fashion editors (you know who...) shared a lot of unkind remarks about her when she turned her back on the industry and stopped being model weight.
Elle Evans is really very very dim. Lovely person, though. Endearing.
Emily Ratajkowski would attach herself to the biggest name or spender at a shoot or afterparty. Very short.
Adriana Lima is very business oriented. Fool for love, though. Also one of the few models that actually does eat, but she does do a lot of very punishing workouts to compensate. Starting to look a bit like Katie Price in the face, probably due to her preference for botox and "high energy" protein powders.
Kaia Gerber is constantly tired. Her parents pushed her into anorexia. Has a drug problem.
Grace Elizabeth is awful. Gorgeous but a terrible, terrible person. Very right wing, very full of herself, very much the meanest of the mean girls. Has money and very keen to let the impoverished no-names paying off their agency debt know it.
"The Brazilian Invasion" models: their agencies, in the era when the fashion industry fetishized racial ambiguity, would push a lot of their White Brazilian models as having some mixed race background, even if they didn't and would overstate the ethnic mix of most of their models (so a German-Italian Brazilian model would suddenly be marketed as having some Japanese and/or African heritage as well).
And, finally, following on from all the the David Walliams talk: Lara Stone hated his guts towards the end of their time together. She was completely swept away by him at the beginning as he was laser-focussed on getting her, but once together he became bored and cruel. His behaviour during their marriage pushed her back into alcoholism.
Thats it! Sorry for the novel. Back to lurking now....
