Gia Marie Carangi. The colorful life and terrible death of one of the first top models. The most interesting addiction that broke all hopes

Gia Marie Carangi is an American model, a brunette among blondes. Bright and beautiful, she strove for fame and forever remained in history... as the first US celebrity to die of AIDS.

She passed away on November 18, 1986. One of the first top US models at that time was only 26 years old. The rapid career very quickly ended in a steep dive, provoked by alcohol, drugs, promiscuous relationships with both men and women, and the then little-studied disease human immunodeficiency virus or AIDS.

Gia Marie Carangi was born on January 29, 1960. Her father, the owner of several eateries, left the family when the girl was a teenager. This was a real blow for the whole family. Later, the model explained her numerous love affairs with this mental trauma.

The bright beauty of young Gia Marie manifested itself very early. At the age of 17, the girl decides to bet on her appearance. She goes to New York to try her luck in the fashion industry. Relatives are supportive. Gia Marie's older brother then called this decision the biggest mistake of their entire family.

The girl very quickly finds a patron in the big city in the person of Wilhelmina Cooper, a famous former model. She goes to work at the Wilhelmina agency. A rapid takeoff begins.

The aspiring model is so photogenic that in just three months she becomes a top figure in the agency. She's in great demand. Success is inspiring and addictive. Already in October 1978, at the age of 18, the girl first appeared on the cover of the British version of Vogue. Then there will be covers in the French Vogue and the American Cosmopolitan. It is worth remembering that in those years blondes ruled the roost in the industry. It is much more difficult for brunettes to break through; only real diamonds can do this.

Money appears. And along with them there are parties, alcohol and drugs. The girl is increasingly disrupting filming at the very last moment. He behaves extremely eccentrically on the court. Gradually, photographers refuse to work with her, since the girl often comes to the shoot in an inadequate state.

In 1981, the 21-year-old model was already a complete heroin addict. Her mother takes her home to later send her to a rehabilitation center for treatment.

In the spring of 1982, Gia Marie made an attempt to return to the world of fashion. She enters into contracts with two agencies at once: Ford and Elite.

According to one of the most famous photographers of that time, Francesco Scavullo, working with the girl became extremely difficult. The model has lost the magnetism that was inherent in her at the very beginning of her career. She refused to open her hands. There were probably traces of injections on them. Although the model claimed that she was done with drugs, during one of the shoots she fell asleep right in front of the camera with a cigarette in her hand and burned her chest.

By the end of 1983, it became clear that the former glory could not be returned. The girl gives up. Her career is over forever.

In 1984, Gia Marie undergoes another course of treatment at a rehabilitation center. Then he tries to improve his life by working as a cashier in a supermarket. Her health is failing her more and more often.

In the fall of 1986, the former supermodel fell ill with signs of serious pneumonia. Her voice became raspy and unpleasant, and her body began to be covered with numerous ulcers. The girl ends up in the hospital, where doctors give her a terrible diagnosis - AIDS. He has a few weeks left to live.

On November 18, 1986, the girl dies in the hospital. When the orderlies transfer her from the bed to the gurney to take her to the morgue, part of the skin from her back simply falls off. The funeral takes place quietly and unnoticed...

In 1998, Gia will be remembered thanks to the film of the same name about the bright and fast-paced life of the model. The main role in the film was played by the aspiring actress Angelina Jolie.

I just watched the movie “Gia” with Angelina Jolie and was impressed and therefore decided to post some information about her and her life as a keepsake. For those who don’t know, I advise you to read and watch the film, it’s very interesting!

Career
Gia was by far the most interesting and provocative model of her time. She was discovered at age 17 while dancing at night at the DCA club in Philadelphia. In early 1978, 18-year-old Gia packed her bags and moved to New York. She was very excited and very excited. She went to meet Wilhelmina with her mother and friend. Wilhelmina Cooper is a former model who ran a modeling agency in New York. From the very first minute, Willie realized that this was not another model who just came and went, but a girl who would conquer the whole world. At the beginning, Gia carried out orders that were insignificant for her career; this lasted about three months. She then met Arthur Elgort, who photographed her for Bloomingdale's. He introduced Gia to people from Vogue and Cosmo, to Scavulo and Avedon - this was the beginning of her brilliant career. With the help of Wilhelmina, Gia rose to the top of fame instantly, and this rarely happened. What made Gia so different, so special, so rich? First of all, she is a beautiful brunette in a world of blondes. But mostly, Gia had a fantastically flexible face. "She can be really sophisticated in one shoot," says Willie, "and be a real Lolita in another. And that's given her a long life in the modeling business." Photographers loved Gia's street style - she wore jeans and leather: "Gia reminded me of James Dean. She was very cool, but at the same time very vulnerable," said photographer Andrea Blanch. Francesco Scavulo also remembers the first day Gia walked into his studio: "There are probably only 3 girls in my entire career who walked into my studio and I thought 'wow'. Gia was the last one." Gia was said to have the most beautiful bust in the business. She always looked through all work proposals herself, and herself determined what to agree to and what not to. Gia could refuse the offer only because she was not in the mood. It's a very fickle business, and Gia could be a very fickle girl. In just one month, she canceled two weeks of orders because she didn't like her haircut. By the end of 1978, she had already appeared in several magazines (including American Vogue).
But nevertheless, Gia, who was still 18 at the time, was looking for stability in her life. Gia Carangi was a regular at New York's hottest clubs. In the 1970s, cocaine was a privilege - not only was it accepted in nightclubs, but it was actually the studio's way of attracting models to continue working after the end of scheduled filming. At first, Gia took drugs only for recreation. Host Kelly LeBrock recalls, "Gia, when I worked with her, was still at the very beginning, still very new and wonderful, um, I guess, drowning a little in her own success, but even more involved in drugs than anyone-" or who was nearby." Working with Gia has always been an inspiration for photographer Chris Von Wangenheim, who was known for his "strong black and white photography." In October 1978, Wangenheim and Gia collaborated on a project for Vogue magazine. The photographer asked Gia if she would stay after the shoot to take some nude photos of her. He also asked that makeup artist Cindy Linter be involved. Gia took off her clothes and posed for the camera, standing naked behind the fence. In the book The Theory of Fashion, Wangenheim says of the shoot, "Usually my mind was so dry by the assignment that when I returned to doing the personal stuff later, the difference was significant. But I wanted to do Gia naked behind a fence, held by an assistant (Cindy Linter) "They were on opposite sides of the fence. Gia had a great figure and unbeatable, best breasts in the business." In 1979, within five months, Gia appeared on the covers of British Vogue, French Vogue, American Vogue and American Cosmopolitan, twice. On the second cover of Cosmo, she posed in a yellow Greek-style swimsuit that highlighted her breasts very nicely. This cover was later called the best of Gia's entire career. Gia's figure was considered very sensual, it contrasted markedly with the shy models of her time. In January 1980, Gia's mentor and agent, 40-year-old Wilhelmina Cooper, was diagnosed with lung cancer. Gia was devastated and turned to drugs as a result. A month later, Gia, along with Vogue magazine, goes to the Caribbean to shoot. Vogue editor Sean Byrnes discovered that she was using drugs: “On a passenger boat in a small boat in which Gia was photographed, I find a small bag on the floor, it turned out to be drugs, I throw them overboard. Having finished screaming, Gia goes to the island, this was her last dose. It was hard to find a dose on the island. In the evening, Scavulo literally had to lie on the bed with her until she fell asleep." A month after Gia returned to New York, Wilhelmina died. At the funeral, agents approached Gia with new business proposals. In the spring of 1980, Gia realized that Heroin will help her get over Vilhelmina's death. Gia loved heroin because it helped her forget her problems. She quickly fell into this dangerous routine that was becoming common in show business. It was a time when drugs took people to very dark places." , and some of them never left.

Drugs
Photographers began to suspect that Gia's impulsive behavior on film sets was the result of heroin abuse.
"We all knew that Gia was on drugs, it was not a secret, but no one discussed it, I never discussed it with her," photographer Francesco Scavulo said in his ABC interview. Photographer Michael Tighe says using heroin was illegal. But in Gia's case, everything was different. She allowed herself to be late for photo shoots, not show up at all, and use heroin in the studio; photographers turned a blind eye to this for the sake of the treasured photograph. 1980, November Vogue shows how far Gia's addiction to drugs has gone. The photographs clearly showed marks on the arm from injections. Quote from Stephen Fried's book: "In many photographs in which she was in a swimsuit, red marks were visible on her arms." "I remember when those pictures came out," says an insider, "there was a big stage in the art department." The photos were edited and retouched to minimize the obvious... "For several months, Gia spent all the money she earned in the modeling business on drugs. Her addiction, at first, did not prevent her from remaining in the center of fashion and being the one everyone wanted. In the summer of 1980, Gia graced the covers of Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Behind the scenes were her unpredictable tantrums, walkouts in the middle of photo shoots, and sometimes she simply fell asleep in front of the camera. She was more interested in her daily dose of heroin than in working in front of the camera. Gia used almost four doses of the drug at the same time and didn't listen to any of her friends. Elite agent Monique Pillard told Oprah on her talk show: "I tried to personally monitor her savings many times, but it didn't work out for me. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't drink for it, it has to want it." In November 1980, Gia left the Wilhelmina agency and signed a contract with Eileen Ford. But Ford did not allow Gia's erratic behavior and after three weeks of work she demoted. Soon in February 1981, Gia disappeared from the New York fashion world in hopes of getting her personal life in order. Karen Karaza: “I was at a nightclub with my boyfriend. And suddenly I saw Gia in a deranged state with a cut neck. She raised her head, but did not recognize me. ... It was really unpleasant.” Tired and sick, Gia enrolled in a rehabilitation program at a clinic for alcoholics and drug addicts. That winter, she entered into a relationship with a 20-year-old student who was addicted to heroin. They said that the friend was in even more serious condition. "I always suspected Rochelle was on heroin, she even offered them to me and I said 'this isn't for me.' "It was a wild relationship for years," Michael Carangi told E! Under the influence of Rochelle, Gia moved further and further from the real world. In the spring of 1981, 21-year-old Gia was arrested for drunk driving, and she was later caught for theft, stealing money from a house. In June, Gia left her mother's house and again enrolled in a rehabilitation program. But her attempt to recover was interrupted by the news that her close friend, photographer Chris Vaughn Wangenheim, had died in a car accident. This gave her the excuse she was looking for: she locked herself in the bathroom and spent hours in a drug-induced delirium. After years of drug use, Gia's arm was afflicted with an ugly abscess and her back was covered in sores. At the end of 1981, Gia again fought for her life and managed to gain weight. She was determined to heal and wanted to return to New York. Gia contacted agent Monique Pillard. "She was sitting in my chair and I said, 'Gia, I want to work with you, but I've heard a lot of bad stories.' And I remember I asked her, "Okay, why are you wearing such a long shirt? Can I see your hands?" And she said "No!" She held her shirt and said to me, “Do you want to work with me or not?” Despite all the problems, Monique signed a contract with Gia, who now worked hard to prove to the skeptics that she had returned to New York for a reason. In early 1982, Gia posed for the cover of Cosmo. According to the photographer, this should have been her best cover. "No matter how hard I worked, it didn't happen. Her extraordinary spirit left her. Nothing worked," says Scavallo. Gia's arms were folded back during filming to hide the marks of the injections; Scavallo denies the rumors, saying she sat in this position to hide the weight she had gained during treatment.

Death
In 1986, Gia suddenly fell ill, and her mother immediately took her to the hospital. Gia had pneumonia when she checked in. Further, after examination, she was diagnosed with AIDS. As Gia's condition worsened, she was transferred to Philadelphia's Hahnemann Hospital. There, for many months, Gia had what she had always dreamed of - the constant attention of her mother Kathleen. At that time, Gia's mother did not allow anyone to enter the hospital and visit Gia, so many people did not know that Gia was seriously ill. One person who was allowed to visit her was Rob Fay: "Kathleen did an incredible job of making the ward feel like home," he says. "Gia wanted to do a story in which she would tell children about drugs. So that they would know what drugs can lead to. She wanted to tell them that it can be dealt with. But for some reason we never recorded it. For the last time, when I saw Gia, she couldn't speak, I knew she was dying." The mother of Gia, the first supermodel, has finally broken her silence to speak out about her daughter's tragic death. “I was with her until the end,” Kathleen said. "We sat in the park and talked. We both knew that she did not have much desire to live. Gia then said: “I overdosed three times - why did God save me then?” Gia’s face was beautiful to the end. Hers "Faith in God was renewed. A portrait of Jesus was attached to the door of her chamber." Within a few weeks, Gia's health rapidly deteriorated. In October, four weeks before her death, she was placed in isolation with numerous ulcers that had developed as a result of the disease. “Gia turned to me and said her last words: “I think I’ll see HIM tonight.” I say, no, no, live here for Mom. But I knew she was leaving me.” November 18, 1986, 26-year-old Gia Karangi died. AIDS had so deformed her body that the funeral director recommended burying her in a closed coffin. "It's a terrible thing. It's still very sad, it will always be very sad. It's a terrible end to such a colorful life," Karaza said. On November 21, 1986, relatives and friends were invited to Gia's funeral service. She was buried at Sunset Memorial Park in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. The fashion world didn’t even know that Gia Carangi, once famous throughout the planet, had died. Even in her hometown, people didn't know the end of her story. Most of Gia's acquaintances only found out a year later that she had died. The funeral was very quiet, because... To say that Gia died of AIDS was a terrible shame for her entire family. Karen Karaza remembers that day: “My mother and I went to the funeral, and, of course, it was a closed casket, and I don’t remember that there were many people there, hardly anyone was there at all. It’s so sad, right? Very sad...".

Video selection of photos:

Confession

Gia's legacy is enormous. She was one of the supermodels, paving the way for models like Cindy Crawford, who was given the nickname "Gia's Baby." On Google, next to her name and on sites dedicated to her, Gia began to be compared to Marilyn Monroe, recalling the tragic end of both famous personalities. All this is evidence of a voracious appetite for doomed women. Her story inspired the television biopic of Gia, which helped launch Angelina Jolie's career. In the mid-90s, when the total march of thin models began, when thinness became fashionable, all slender girls began to be called “Gia’s girls.” But for Gia, this thinness was not a tribute to fashion, but a disease. Poor Gia. She deserves better memories of herself.

Gia Marie Carangi known as an American supermodel who was one of the first to make a dizzying career in the modeling business and passed away in 1986 at the age of 26. She suffered from drug addiction and died of AIDS. Gia became one of the first women whose cause of death was openly declared to be the immunodeficiency virus. In 1998, Angelina Jolie played the main role in the film Gia, and this image became one of her most successful transformations and brought her a Golden Globe film award.

At the age of 14, Gia realized that she was attracted to girls - she sent them flowers and poems of her own composition. Her mother took her to psychologists, but this did not help. At the age of 18, she came to New York and within three months of working in a modeling agency, she became one of the most sought-after models in America. Thanks to her, not only blondes, but also brunettes began to appear on the pages of fashion magazines - at that time, her appearance was atypical for the fashion world.

In 1978, Gia starred in her most scandalous photo shoot - she posed completely naked behind a chain-link fence. All other models refused the offer of photographer Chris von Wangenheim, who conducted an unusual photo shoot for Vogue magazine.

Soon she was being paid $10,000 per shoot. She refused many offers, was late for photo shoots, and made scandals if she didn’t like her hair or makeup. “Everyone in this city is looking for sex, drugs and money,” she wrote in her diary. “Everyone sees beauty, but no one sees pain...” She took drugs, and soon it began to interfere with her work. In 1980, a scandal broke out: at a photo shoot in the November Vogue, traces of numerous injections were visible on the model’s hands. A few months later, she disappeared from the New York modeling world.

“The world seems to be based on money and sex. I’m looking for the best things: happiness, love and care,” Gia wrote in her diary. But in the last months of her life, she sold herself to buy drugs. "Life and death. Energy and peace. If I stopped today, it was still worth it, and even the mistakes that I made and that I would correct if I could, the pain that burned me and left scars in my soul - it was all worth it for me to be allowed to go there , where I was going: to this hell on earth, to this heaven on earth and back, inside, under, between, through them, in them and above them.”

12 years after the death of the supermodel, the film “Gia” was released. Angelina Jolie initially turned down the role, saying that she and Gia were too similar. Perhaps that is why she was able to embody this image on the screen incredibly convincingly and talentedly. For some time after this work, she did not act in films - she needed a break to restore her emotional and moral strength. Perhaps the film could have qualified for an Oscar if it had not been made for television.

Over 30 years, standards of female beauty have changed significantly; supermodels now look different: see photos

Karangi, Gia

Real name
Gia Marie Carangi
Date of Birth
January 29, 1960
Place of Birth
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Date of death
November 18, 1986 (age 26)
Height
173 cm
Breast
86.5 cm
Waist
61 cm
Hips
89 cm
Hair color
chestnut
Eyes
brown
Clothing size
36 (EU)
Shoe size
39 (EU)
Citizenship
USA

Gia Marie Karangi(eng. Gia Marie Carangi; born January 29, 1960, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA - died November 18, 1986, ibid.) - American supermodel, considered one of the first supermodels in the world.
Having revolutionized the fashion world, she became not only the first brunette supermodel in the increasingly whitish world of gloss, but also the first woman to die of AIDS. Such a bright and short life.

She was the predecessor of 1990s supermodels Claudia Schiffer and Cindy Crawford. Due to her striking resemblance to Karangi, the latter was often called Baby Gia.

Karangi's images were on the covers of various fashion magazines, for example: American Vogue, April 1979; Paris Vogue, April 1979; American Vogue, August 1980; Paris Vogue, August 1980; Italian Vogue, January 1981; and several Cosmopolitan covers from 1979 to 1983.

This cover is considered the best in the history of Gia's filming.

Gia Carangi was born to an Italian-American father, Joe Carangi, and an American woman with Irish and Welsh roots, Kathleen Carangi. The father owned a small chain of eateries, and the mother raised the girl. When Gia was eleven years old, her mother left the family. In subsequent years, Gia suffered from lack of attention from her parents. At the age of 18, Karangi moved to New York, where she quickly achieved success as a model.

Career

In New York, Gia came under the patronage of former model Wilhelmina Cooper, who owned the Wilhelmina Models modeling agency. Wilhelmina was so amazed to see Gia that she even forgot to sign a contract with her. Gia came to the casting in jeans and a stretched T-shirt, playing with her ever-present knife. For the first three months, Karangi fulfilled small orders, but quickly became one of the most popular models of those years. Arthur Elgort, with whom she worked during a photo shoot for Bloomingdale's, introduced her to eminent photographers Francesco Scavullo, Marco Glaviano and Richard Avedon, which was the beginning of Carangi's brilliant career.

Wilhelmina Cooper

Gia's first photoset (photographer Chris Vaughn Wonehem)

Then the photographer, Chris Von Wonenham, struck by Gia's unusualness, takes a photo of her alone. (Which causes the indignation of other models..)

After the obligatory promotional shots, Chris announces to everyone in the studio that all the previously taken photos are sad shit and invited the models to engage in real art, that is, to get naked. Everyone is refused, except for Gia. These shots behind the fence became the most famous shots of Gia. Makeup artist Cindy Linter also took part in the photo shoot at the photographer’s request. Photos of naked Gia standing behind a fence became one of the most scandalous of those times. By the end of 1978, she had already appeared in several magazines, including American Vogue.

The photographer captured the essence of Gia - her temperament as an elemental beast needed a “fence.” But there was no such fence in her life, no one and nothing became one, and at one wonderful moment, the element of self-destruction burst out, sweeping away everything in its path: youth, health, beauty, fees, career, friends and life itself. But this is still ahead. In the meantime, Gia falls in love with her make-up artist.

With makeup artist Sandy Linter

Gia became famous not only because of her extraordinary appearance (in those days blondes were in demand in the modeling business), but primarily due to her ability to play various roles, be it an innocent Lolita or a vamp.

In 1979, over the course of five months, Gia appeared on the covers of British Vogue, French Vogue, American Vogue and twice on the cover of American Cosmopolitan. The second cover of Cosmo, where Karangi posed in a yellow Greek-style swimsuit, was called the best of Gia’s entire career. Gia's figure was considered very sensual, it contrasted markedly with the shy models of her time. Having become quite famous, Karangi could afford not to agree to those work offers that she did not like. Sometimes she canceled photo shoots just because she didn't like her hairstyle.

Karangi was a regular at the most fashionable clubs in New York, including a frequent visitor to the famous Studio 54, where free morals flourished. Gradually, Gia began to take drugs - first the “soft” drug cocaine for recreation, then, in the spring of 1980, after the death of her mentor Wilhelmina Cooper from lung cancer, Carangi switched to heroin, which helped her forget about her problems. Gia began to be late for filming or not come at all. After two years of a successful career, when Carangi received more than $100,000 a year (in 1980, Cooper expected her to earn over 500 thousand), the model disappeared from the fashion world.

In the spring of 1982, Karangi made an attempt to return to business, changing her agency to two others - Ford and Elite. She worked hard to prove to skeptics that she returned to New York for a reason. In early 1982, Gia posed for the cover of Cosmopolitan. According to the photographer, this should have been her best cover, and it became her last. The model poses with her hands behind her back to hide traces of heroin injections.

Despite all her efforts, she continues to use heroin. And he does it already openly. She falls asleep on set, she injects herself with drugs right in front of the entire crew, she thinks she can get away with anything. In the spring of 1983, Gia was caught with drugs at a photo shoot in North Africa - her modeling career was over.

I don’t know what retouching methods were used then, but during it there was a scandal: all the model’s hands were covered in scars and wounds

Personal life

Despite her popularity and wealth, Gia remained lonely, her personal life did not work out. She had a small circle of friends: makeup artists P. Hockey and Cindy Linter, models Julia Foster, Janice Dickinson and some former Philadelphia acquaintances.

In her personal life, Gia was known for her lesbian inclinations. She herself agreed with this.

From Gia's diary: « Girls have always been a problem for me. I really don't know why they bother me."

"She was the purest lesbian I've ever met, recalls one friend. - Eh that was the clearest thing about her. She sent flowers and poems to girls from the age of fourteen».

« Gia only loved women, says one friend from high school. - But the problem was that everyone fell in love with her, whether it was a man or a woman. Thanks to her charm and beauty, she always got who she wanted.”

Many of her friends believe that the main reason why Gia wanted to become a model was that she thought it would satisfy her mother in a number of ways. Karanji knew that this was her destiny. Everyone thought she knew she could go to New York at any time and make a career there. Gia's mother visited her in New York as often as she could. Sometimes just to put Gia’s house in order. But still, most of the time Gia was alone. She tried to do something outside of modeling, but could not find time for it in her busy schedule. "The biggest mistake we made was not having anyone accompany her to New York," says her brother Michael.

Gia was looking for love and compassion at a time when people were looking for sex, money and drugs. In search of love and permanent relationships, Gia instantly fell in love with people she had just met. She felt incredibly lonely and even asked her brother Michael to go to New York with her. Model Julie Foster recalls in an interview with True Hollywood Stories: “She was looking for someone's love, one day Gia came to my house in the middle of the night, and I let her in, and she only wanted someone to hug her. It was very sad."

Drugs

Photographers began to suspect that Gia's impulsive behavior on film sets was the result of heroin abuse. "We all knew that Gia was on drugs, it was not a secret, but no one discussed it, I never discussed it with her," photographer Francesco Scavulo told ABC. Photographer Michael Tighe says using heroin was illegal. But in Gia's case it was different. She allowed herself to be late for photo shoots, not show up at all, and use heroin in the studio; photographers turned a blind eye to this for the sake of the treasured photograph. In the November 1980 Vogue, you can see how far Gia's addiction to drugs went. The photographs clearly showed marks on the arm from injections. Quote from Stephen Fried's book: "In many photographs in which she was in a swimsuit, red marks were visible on her arms."

Notice how her face and gaze changes. In these latest photos, Gia is half a step away from the abyss. Drug addiction almost completely consumed her.

"I remember when those photos came out, - says the insider, - There was a scandal in the art department". Photos have been edited and retouched to minimize obvious...

“For several months, Gia spent all the money she earned in the modeling business on drugs. Her inclination, at first, did not prevent her from remaining in the center of attention and being the one everyone wanted. In the summer of 1980, Gia graced the covers of Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Behind the scenes were her unpredictable tantrums, strikes in the middle of photo shoots, and sometimes she simply fell asleep in front of the camera.

Karangi was more interested in her daily dose of heroin than in front of the camera. Gia took almost four doses of the drug at the same time and did not listen to any of her friends. Elite agent Monique Pillard told Oprah on her talk show: " I tried to personally monitor her savings many times, but it didn't work out. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot force him to drink, he must want it himself.».

All that was left of Gia was a shell. There is emptiness in the eyes

In November 1980, Gia left the Wilhelmina agency and signed a contract with Eileen Ford. But Ford did not allow Gia's erratic behavior and after three weeks of work she was demoted. In February 1981, Gia disappeared from the New York fashion world in hopes of getting her personal life in order.

Tired and sick, Gia enrolled in a rehabilitation program at a Philadelphia clinic for alcoholics and drug addicts. That same winter, she begins a relationship with a 20-year-old student who used heroin. They said that the friend was in even more serious condition. “I always suspected Rochelle was on heroin, she even offered it to me, but I said 'it's not for me'. It was a wild relationship for many years,” said Michael Carangi. Under Rochelle's influence, Gia moved further and further from the real world. In the spring of 1981, 21-year-old Gia was arrested for drunk driving. When she stole money from the house to spend on drugs, she was also caught. In June 1981, Gia left her mother's house and again enrolled in a rehabilitation program. But her attempt to recover was interrupted by the news that her close friend, photographer Chris Vaughn Wangenheim, had died in a car accident. For Gia, this became another compelling argument for starting to take drugs. She locked herself in the bathroom and spent many hours in a drug-induced delirium. After years of drug use, Gia developed an ugly abscess on her arm and her back was covered in sores.

At the end of 1981, Gia again began to fight for her life. She began to gain weight. Karangi was committed to recovery and wanted to return to New York. Gia contacted agent Monique Pillard. “She was sitting in my chair, I told her: “Gia, I want to work with you, but I’ve heard a lot of bad stories.” And I remember I asked her, “Okay, why are you wearing such a long shirt? Can I see your hands? And she answered “No!” She held her shirt and said to me, “Do you want to work with me or not?”

Despite all the problems, Monique signed a contract with Gia, who now worked hard to prove to the skeptics that she had returned to New York for a reason. In early 1982, Gia posed for the cover of Cosmo. According to photographer Francesco Scavullo, this should have been her best cover. “No matter how hard I worked, it didn’t happen. Her extraordinary spirit left her. Nothing worked,” says Scavullo. Gia's hands were folded back during filming to hide the marks of injections. Scavullo denies the rumors, saying she sat in that position to hide the extra weight she gained during treatment.

Quite a rare photo. Gia and photographer Francesco Scavullo get out of the car near The Beverly Hills Hotel. The year is 1985, shortly before Gia learns that she has AIDS. A week before, Gia’s latest photo shoot in Vogue magazine, shot by Francesco Scavullo, was released. After her, it became obvious that Gia “died” for the modeling business.

In 1982, Gia starred on ABC's 20/20 Supermodel Stories. She said that she did not use drugs, but her look and voice proved the opposite. She was once offered $10,000 a week to film in Europe, but now no one wanted to work with her. Monique Pillard recalls one incident when Gia was working in a studio in New York. The photographer called him and said: “Come and pick her up or I’ll throw her out of the studio. She fell asleep in front of the camera and burned her chest with a cigarette.” In May of that year, Gia needed surgery on her hand because she had stabbed herself in the same place so many times, leading to an infection.

A still from the video where Gia lies that she overcame drug addiction

Gia moved to Atlantic City, where she shared an apartment with Rochelle. “I didn’t recognize her at first, she had a very unusual voice, unpleasant. It was disgusting,” Karen Karaza said.

« Those years were crazy- recalls Gia’s mother, - I told my ex-husband that he should be prepared for any news, because she was capable of anything. People in this state will do anything for drugs. Theft, even murder. I understood that any day I could receive a letter saying that my daughter was dead.”

One of the sites indicates that this photo is the last in Gia’s career

After pressure from her family, Gia was again enrolled in a rehabilitation program at Eagleville Hospital in Montgomery. Karanji recognized herself as a beggar and lived on benefits. At Eagleville, a patient named Rob Fay became a close friend. " The relationship you start there, you start from scratch, and it's a completely new life. I was really the only person close to her at that time. I remember one day we saw a couple of elderly people holding hands. It really touched her - those people had spent their entire lives together and still loved each other and cared about each other. It was very important for her».

After six months of treatment, Gia left Eagleville Hospital and moved to the suburbs of Philadelphia. She worked as a jeans salesman and cashier at a local department store. She took college courses and even developed an interest in photography and cinema. However, three months later, Gia disappeared again. “She disappeared and no one could find her,” says Rob. “I didn’t see her for three weeks, because usually when someone disappears, it means they’ve taken up their old ways or committed suicide.” And you don’t see them anymore.”

Gia returned to Atlantic City in the summer of 1985. She increased her dose. She slept with men for money to buy drugs and was raped several times. According to some reports, she managed to stop taking drugs for a while. But in 1986, Gia ended up in the hospital with signs of pneumonia. After this, Gia Carangi lived only six months...

Death

In 1986, Gia suddenly fell ill, and her mother immediately took her to the hospital. Gia had pneumonia when she checked in. Further, after examination, she was diagnosed with AIDS. When Gia's condition worsened, she was transferred to a Philadelphia hospital. There, for many months, Gia had what she had dreamed of since childhood - the constant attention of her mother Kathleen. At that time, Kathleen did not allow anyone to enter the room and visit Gia, so many people did not know that Gia was seriously ill. One of the people who was allowed to visit her was Rob Fay: “Kathleen did a great job of making the ward feel like home,” he says. “Gia wanted to film a story in which she would tell children about drugs. So that they know what drugs can lead to. She wanted to say that you can fight this. But for some reason we never recorded it. The last time I saw Gia, she couldn't speak, I knew she was dying." Then Gia's mother finally broke her silence to speak out about her daughter's tragic fate. “I was with her until the end,” Kathleen said. - We sat in the park and talked. We both knew that she had little desire to live. Gia then said: “I overdosed three times - why did God save me then?” In recent days she could not take walks even with a stick. She was in an isolation ward and the nurses were afraid to approach a patient with an incomprehensible and terrible disease. Her mother looked after her. Gia's face was beautiful to the end. She renewed her faith in God. A portrait of Jesus was attached to the door of her room." Within a few weeks, Gia's health rapidly deteriorated. Her body was covered with numerous ulcers that formed as a result of the disease. "Gia turned to me and said her last words: 'I think I'll see HIM tonight.' I say: “No, no, live here. For Mom." But I knew she was leaving me.”

Who would have thought that this beautiful back would be covered with ulcers and fall off from the dead Gia...

On November 18, 1986, 26-year-old Gia Karangi died. As the orderlies moved her body onto a gurney to take it to the morgue, part of her back simply fell off... AIDS had so disfigured her body that the funeral director recommended burying her in a closed coffin.

“A terrible thing. It's still very sad, it will always be very sad. This is a terrible end to such a colorful life." , - said Karaza.

On November 21, 1986, relatives and friends were invited to Gia's funeral service. She was buried in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. The fashion world didn’t even know that Gia Carangi, once famous throughout the planet, had died. Even in her hometown, people did not know the end of her story. Most of Gia's acquaintances only found out a year later that she had died. The funeral was very quiet, since to say that Gia died of AIDS would be a terrible shame for her entire family.

Karen Karaza remembers that day: “ My mother and I went to the funeral, and of course it was a closed casket, and I don't remember there being many people there, hardly anyone was there at all. It's so sad, isn't it? Very sad…".

FROM JIA'S DIARIES:
...There is no place like home. All the walls there are measured in four-mile steps, and you want to highlight the traces with gouache, like in old cartoons. Baby, smile, dry your tears. Sadness does not suit us. Although a lot of things happened in this house - dress stockings were worn, the petals of a daisy were torn off, films were listened to and sounds faded away... Here, for the first time, someone admitted to himself that he was in love with someone. The smell of sausages, tomatoes and rice, marks from a school bag in the closet - the door was scratched by a buckle... Stains from tears on the paper, and ink stains. There are no forces, no swirling gray-green universe. There is only forgiveness, which you receive towards the end... Having paid for the ticket from Mars. Not back...

And only I alone know better what is happening to me now and what awaits me...
.. life and death, energy and peace, if I stopped today,
it was still worth it, and even the terrible mistakes I made that I would correct if I could,
the pain that burned me and left scars in my soul - it was all worth it.
so that they would allow me to go where I was going -
To this hell on earth, to this heaven on earth and back, inside, under, between, through them, in them and above them...

“The world seems to be based on money and sex...
I'm looking for better things than this, like happiness, love
and care"

ABOUT HER:
- She always followed her instincts, no matter where they led her, perhaps this was her best and at the same time worst quality!

Sex... with sex everything was simple, sex was everywhere and they didn’t attach much importance to it. Love... love has always been hard to find! Even if you looked for it, which not many did, and even if you found it, which not many succeeded in doing. Even if she was right under your nose, how could she be noticed among all this sex?

God, she's just a child. I blamed myself, because these are our children. No matter how many problems we have in life, we have a responsibility to take care of our children!

She was like a puppy! “Love me, love me, love me...” and I fell in love with her, I fell in love with her immediately.

Sometimes I think she was not like everyone else! Sometimes I knew who she was, and sometimes I didn't. Everyone who tries to tell you what she really was like - they don't know her at all! I was afraid of drugs, the way they affected people. I told her about it, that is, she knew. I was afraid of many things. But she promised and I believed that it would work, because we both wanted it with all our might. We wanted it, and we succeeded. It worked.

“One night in some club, I don’t remember which one, I saw her. It was her, I recognized her immediately. Among the smoke and noise, she stood with her head down. She didn’t recognize me, but I’m sure it was Gia. She felt very bad, it was visible to the naked eye. She stood motionless, but something in her gaze made people turn around."

Karen Caruso, childhood friend.
In her youth, Gia experimented with alcohol, pills and marijuana - in the 70s this was common among young people. Rebellion was the common road that everyone followed at that time. Gia was a fan of David Bowie and was a supporter of his rebellious worldview. In other Bowie fans, she found the family she had longed for. She went to his concerts and often visited gay clubs in Philadelphia. Gia was a supporter of Bowie and his fans, because according to their theory, being different, bisexual, gay is normal. Gia's sexuality was one of the things she felt strongly about and, in most cases, was proud of. "She was very open about it," says Karen. Gia's mother was confused by her daughter's inclinations. She even took her to psychologists, but nothing helped.

She had an interesting face and a very beautiful figure. Kathleen, confident that a modeling career could have a good impact on her daughter, persuaded Gia to try herself in a new field." Gia behaved very naturally. I didn't have to tell her what to do or how to do it" - says Joe Petrelis, a friend of the Carangi family and the first photographer to photograph Gia. " She knew how to act in front of the camera from the very beginning. She was a wonderful model"

Francesco Scavullo also remembers the first day Gia entered the studio: "In my entire career, there were probably only three girls who walked into the studio and I said, wow! Gia was the last one to walk in and I thought, wow!"

It was believed that Gia has the most beautiful breasts in the fashion world and her photographs did not even require modification in Photoshop. By the end of 1978, she had already appeared in several magazines (including American Vogue) and was earning thousands of dollars. But despite this, Gia was looking for stability in life. Gia was looking for love and commitment while others were looking for sex, money and drugs. In her search for love and a stable relationship, Gia often fell in love with people she barely knew. She felt very lonely and even asked her brother Michael to come live with her.

Based on the biography of the model, a film was made “ JIA"starring Angelina Jolie.

year 1998
Country: USA
tagline: “Too beautiful to die. Too violent to live."
director Michael Christopher
Screenplay by Jay McInerney, Michael Christopher
producer James D. Brubaker, Tina L. Fortenberry, David R. Ginsburg, ...
cinematographer Rodrigo Garcia
composer Terence Blanchard, Billy Idol, David Bowie

After this film, Angelina Jolie's career skyrocketed. Without having any resemblance to Gia (some argued that Julia Roberts is more similar to Carangi), Angie perfectly conveyed the indomitable character of the model, combining the bad girl's cheekiness and the endless vulnerability of a disliked teenager with drama in the family. I expected more from the film. I will say that the biography of the model from Wikipedia struck me much more than the directorial work of M. Christopher. The fate of the heroine is shown too dottedly, the motives of her actions are not revealed, the moment of the first use of heroin is blurred. There is no sense of integrity from the picture. It breaks up into incomprehensible and unrelated episodes. The film, which tells the story of a decade filled with drive, music, buzz, super fees and chic clothes, the director somehow managed to make it leisurely, and in places downright boring. Gia's biography is conveyed in a blurred way, some facts from life that are important for understanding her motives are lost. Everything is drawn out by Jolie’s sincere and visceral performance.