Thing of Beauty

The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia

At seventeen, Gia Carangi was working the counter at her father's Philadelphia luncheonette. Within a year, she was one of the world's top models, gracing the covers of Cosmopolitan and Vogue, partying at Studio 54, and redefining the fashion industry's standard of beauty.

But behind the glitz and fame, Gia was a young woman in pain, desperate for her mother's approval and facing a drug addiction that quickly spun out of control. With dizzying speed, she went from $10,000-a-day fashion shoots to using drugs on the streets of New York and Atlantic City before finally being blackballed from modeling. At twenty-six, Gia once again made history as one of the first famous women to die of AIDS.

This "chilling tale" (The Boston Globe), based on hundreds of interviews with friends, family, lovers, and fashionistas (the term author Stephen Fried coined for her industry colleagues), is comprehensively explored in this must-listen biography that will introduce Gia to a new generation. It is also a powerful exploration of our society's views of beauty and sexuality, fame and objectification, mothers and daughters, love and death.

©1993 Stephen Marc Fried; afterword copyright 2024 by Stephen Fried (P)2024 Tantor Media

Gia Carangi Is My Hero

The greatest book ever written,,,, About the greatest person to ever live….. I miss Gia Carangi so much,,,, Thank you Gia!

too long

overall clear voice and fairly interesting just too long overall could of been done with 1.2 time.