We're all well acquainted with the unrealistic weight standards that the media puts forth, particularly for young women. We see magazine covers with female models that are stick-thin and as a result, millions of young women feel forced to mold their bodies into that shape. In this cultural context, eating disorders have flourished, ravaging the lives of many of our youth.
Now this next story characterizes this problem all too well. One young woman was "lucky" enough to get a modelling contract by being discovered on the street. She was immediately thrown into the modelling world and discovered that she had to lose at least twenty pounds in order to fit into the clothes. What she did to fit in was tragic...
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1. The modelling industry is as popular as ever, but to fit in, you need to abide by a strict standard. If you aren't thin enough, you have to become thin enough.
2. Modelling agencies oftentimes hire models in their teenage years and sometimes do so without the supervision of a guardian or parent.
The combination of the allure of modelling, the pressure to have a specific body type, and the impressionable young age that many models are recruited can be a recipe for disaster for some.
3. Meet Victoire Macon Dauxerre, an 18-year-old French student who was suddenly discovered one day on the street with her mother by a modelling agent.
4. She was quickly thrown into the whirlwind that is the European modelling industry.
What happened next highlights what is wrong with this line of business all too well...
5. In order to attain her dream of being picked up by some of the world's most popular fashion magazines, she had to drop over twenty pounds and she had to drop it fast.
Her solution? Only eat three apples a day for eight months straight.
6. To put things into perspective, the average apple has about 80 calories.
Three apples amounts to 240 calories a day. The recommended number of calories that an active young woman should consume is between 2,000 and 2,400 calories.
7. She worked extremely hard and shed the 22 pounds she needed.
After all, she had to fit into size 32-34 clothes by a fashion week event and nothing was going to get in her way.
8. She made it happen though and was picked up for multiple fashion shows across France, Italy, and the United States.
9. Pictured here, she came in at a weight of roughly 100 pounds.
The horrifying thing is that she is 5'10" tall!
10. Due to her horribly deprived diet, she began to lose her period and even developed osteoporosis. She also had developed bulimia and anorexia.
An all apple diet just doesn't have the nutrients one needs to function properly. The body will literally eat itself in order to try and repair bones and muscle. Ultimately her psyche was also pushed to the limit and she attempted suicide by her eighth month of modelling.
11. So she quit. She just couldn't take anymore.
She wrote a book at 23 years old called "Never Skinny Enough. Diary of a Top Model," where she detailed the horror that is the modelling industry. She now talks to groups of young women in the effort to sway them away from the world of modelling.
12. Luckily, Victoire is doing great and making the most out of life!
Other high-profile models have come out to the public about their struggles with anorexia and bulimia...
13. Another model, Zuzanna Buchwald, has publicly discussed her struggles with an eating disorder after being thrown into the pressure-filled modelling industry.
Her message to the world echoes Victoire's...
14. The pressure put on Zuzanna led her to develop anorexia and bulimia.
In an interview, Zuzanna explained how agents would pressure her to stop eating and said that “I was very weak, very down all the time. I lost my period for three years, I had problems with teeth, my complexion was grey, my skin was dry. It was a terrible experience.” She has since gotten her life back and has a clear message to the public concerning an industry that threatened the lives of both her and Victoire Macon Dauxerre.
15. She went on to describe the brutality of being rejected because of your weight.
“If you lose weight, you will be praised by all for how good you look and sent out to castings. If you don’t, you will be sent away to continue dieting," she explained.
16. She has strong words for the modern modelling industry.
“I won’t stay silent anymore. I’m no longer afraid to say that the fashion industry has an exploitative and dangerous side to the often desperate young girls churning through it," she said.
17. Her words didn't stop there.
“I am calling to the media and fashion industry to stop imposing this unhealthy, dangerous body-rigid ideal of a size zero and replace it with the image of health, happiness, and personality,” Zuzanna said.
18. What do you think about the unrealistic standards young women are held to in the modelling industry?
Has it gone too far?
19. At a minimum, these two women deserve a lot of credit coming back from such an unfair situation.
SHARE this incredible story with your friends on Facebook who are thinking about becoming a model.
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