Gia Marie Carangi is one of the most successful supermodels of the 20th century. Unfortunately, the young star could not cope with her popularity and became addicted to hard drugs.
Family and the beginning of a modeling career
Gia Marie Carangi was born in 1960 in Philadelphia, the largest city in the US state of Pennsylvania. Her father, Joseph, was half Italian. He owned a food business. Her mother, Kathleen Adams, was Irish. Kathleen left the family when her daughter was only 11 years old. Father did not have enough time for Gia, so she often suffered from loneliness. In her biography and future fate, this feeling turned out to be extremely important.
From an early age, Gia dreamed of a career as a model, as if she always knew that it was her fate. She did not doubt her own success, so at the age of 17 she moved with confidence to New York, where she began to submit the portfolio to the best agencies. There, the girl was often visited by her mother, but a sense of uselessness and loneliness without ceasing haunted her.
Popularity and drug addiction
The attractive brown-eyed brunette quickly gained popularity, and after 3 months she began to work with the best photographers in the USA and fulfill orders for Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Bloomingdale's. Over the next two years, Carangi became one of the first world-class supermodels. Even provocative nude shots carried not only critical remarks, but also an extraordinary increase in demand. The model began to earn millions. She could afford to meticulously select all the proposals, which she did.
Already at 17 years old, having received her first money, the model went to drown out loneliness in the best clubs in New York. The nightlife of that time was distinguished by an abundance of promiscuous sexual intercourse and psychoactive substances. At 18, she was addicted to cocaine, and two years later - to heroin.
Career decline
Since 1979, Gia began to gain fame as an irresponsible model, regularly late for work and showing inappropriate behavior. Some photographers noted that the young star allowed herself to use drugs directly during work. They had to endure a similar attitude, because Carangi was a world-famous celebrity. Gradually, patience began to fade, because Gia began to look far from model-like: her hands were bruised from syringes, there were always deep black circles under her eyes. Retouching her photos was getting harder.
By 1982, the model gained several extra pounds of weight, which was not permissible for models of this level. Hands with bruises had to be hidden, and constant breaking did not allow her to professionally carry out her job. The 1982 Cosmopolitan cover was the last in her life.
Rehabilitation attempts
By 1981, almost all agencies and brands had severed ties with her. Gia realized that this could not continue. At age 21, Karandzhi decided to start treatment for drug addiction. Unfortunately, during rehabilitation courses, she met a young drug addict, with whom she began a lesbian relationship. Both girls abandoned rehabilitation and only exacerbated their addiction. After that, there were several more desperate attempts to recover, but they all ended in failure.
Gia Carangi stopped trying to regain its former glory in 1983, and completely plunged into drug delirium. She had spent all the money she earned by this time, which is why she had to apply for unemployment benefits. She repeatedly asked for money from relatives and even stole things from her mother. In 1985, she began to earn a living by prostitution. Her former colleagues and fans did not even know how the star of glossy magazines lives.
