Ana Carolina Reston killed by a diet of apples and tomatoes?
November 17th, 2006
Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston was killed by a diet of just apples and tomatoes. The 21-year-old was buried in her native Brazil yesterday. She died earlier on Tuesday weighing just 39 kilograms/88 pounds (we reported) after being hospitalised for kidney failure – and a relative has revealed she only ate the two fruits in the months leading up to her death .
Cousin Geise Strauss says, “She liked apples and she adored tomatoes as well – but that was about it.” Published reports reveal the model received treatment for anorexia, but bosses at one of her main agencies, L’Equipe, insist they had no idea she was ill.
In a statement released to US news show “Entertainment Tonight” yesterday, a spokesman for L’Equipe said, “We don’t force our professionals to be ‘very thin.’ Those who have the a naturally thin biotype work in fashion and those who haven’t are addressed to advertising.
“After (she) had to be admitted in the hospital, she was frequently visited by an employee from the agency. All medical staff responsible for her was extremely worried, because she complained from pain in the kidneys and had a profile of generalised infection.
“L’Equipe would like to reinforce that its philosophy has always included the concern about the professionals’ health, including their diet and physical activities. We are deeply sorry about what happened to Ana Carolina Reston. Even in these dark times, we have never stopped helping the model and her family.”
Meanwhile Ana Carolina’s mother has made an emotional appeal for parents to take better care of aspiring young models.
The death of Ana Carolina Reston follows growing criticism of the use of underweight models in the fashion world, an issue given new significance after the death in August of Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos (read here) of heart failure during a fashion show in Montevideo.
21 Comments Add your own
1. Alessia | November 17th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
Imo her agency L’Euqipe bears the blame. there is something wrong with that agency. Just take a look at their models, they are all soooooooooo skinny. I was shocked when I visited their website http://www.lequipeagence.com.br/port/home.asp and found this model http://www.lequipeagence.com.br/port/det_fpri.asp?n=4.
2. Melissa | November 17th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
what I think is a load is when these agencies call their models “naturally thin.” That’s like saying I’m naturally fat. I may be “fat” but it is not a natural thing. It is because I likes to eat.
anyway, I hate to tell them but times are a changing for these modeling agencies. All it is going to take is for a few more of these “naturally thin” sweethearts to drop dead from complications of their “naturally thin” diets. (and it is inevitable at this point.) Then, the fat police will be on them like flies on…well, you know. They’ll be kicking out the pencil thin ones left and right with a bmi check.
3. Viviane | November 19th, 2006 at 5:21 am
There’s one called Fernanda Marx who is scary–
http://www.lequipeagence.com.br/port/det_fpri.asp?n=68
4. Michael | November 19th, 2006 at 4:24 pm
They call a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 13, “naturally thin”?
Thats what I would call (un)naturally stupid and ignorant.
Shame on them.
5. Sarah | November 22nd, 2006 at 2:31 am
I think BMI is a bad way to determine healthiness. It doesn’t take into consideration body type/muscle mass/etc. Like muscle weighs more than fat. Some people are made tiny.
- things like that.
I think it’s sad that these girls take it too far & I agree that the agency’s models are tiiiny! some of them obviously had a few bones photoshopped out, judging by the size of their limbs.
6. Betta | November 22nd, 2006 at 10:04 pm
I am probably going to have all hell come down upon me and my comment. – I went to the websites/looked at the photos of Reston and the other models – They don’t look like what I have seen as anorexic women. I know Reston Obviously had a problem- her weight/height and diet– as well as the end result of it – is proof alone. However, the Waif Look, Heroine Chic, as well as the Twiggy Look has been out there for so (too) long that seeing women this size no longer is shocking to me.. but the “norm” (even though in reality the norm is a size 12-14 woman).
Until designers have the ability/want/desire to make clothes for those of us not Lollipop Heads – and until fashion houses and magazines are willing to enforce a change (all the while keep their money rolling in) – this will continue to be considered the standard for models. Haven’t you heard the latest trend… the size 00 is now the “in” size to strive for
7. Marta | November 23rd, 2006 at 4:54 am
While I do think the model Fernanda Marx, mentioned by Viviane, is indeed scarily thin I don’t agree with Alessia when she says model Alessandra Mattos is thin to the point of causing shock. She’s thin, granted but you can easily tell she’s also a naturally small framed woman, which explains why her measurements are smaller than Fernanda Marx’s even though Fernanda looks mych thinner. If you look at this picture of Alessandra (http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/9248/2993kx3.jpg) you’ll notice you can’t even see her ribcage (her bones in general are barely noticeable), this despite the fact that she has one arm lifed above her head. My ribcage shows when I lift my arm above my head and I’m a thin but healthy person (just so people don’t start thinking I’m anorexic too, I’m saying I’m healthy because that’s what I was told by my doctor). Does she starve herself? Perhaps, but as of yet she isn’t too skinny.
Another thing I’d like to add is that just because size 12-14 women are the norm it doesn’t mean that’s a good/”normal” thing either. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the average U.S. woman is 5′ 3.7 (162 centimeters) tall, weighs 152 pounds (69 kilograms) and is a size 12-14. This corresponds to a BMI of 26.3 which means the average American woman, the so-called norm, is overweight and the sad reality is that nowadays there are more people in the world dying because of too much food than because of too little food. The numbers don’t lie, in the United States 44% of teenagers are overweight/obese and 71% of adults are overweight/obese. The statistics for anorexia/bulimia in the US is a stable 4% of adult women and less than 0.5% of adult males. Statistics also show that anorexia/bulimia is 22% deadly, being overweight is 57% deadly and being obese is 89% deadly. Kind of puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?
Now, I know this might sound like I have no problem with anorexia and bulimia, that I think they’re okay but the truth is I don’t. Nor do I think it’s alright for models to have BMIs of 13 or 15. The models at the pasarela cibeles this year had BMIs of 18 or higher and none looked fat to me, quite the contrary, those models were thin but not skinny or sickly looking, they looked good. What I don’t think is right is that people who are overweight/obese use this sort of thing to feel good about themselves, to justify their excesses. People shouldn’t use other people’s problems to feel good about themselves, especially when starving oneself isn’t any worse than stuffing one’s face.
8. nico | December 3rd, 2006 at 12:38 am
I dont want to go into too much depth,
but word is that anorexia had nothing to do with this girls demise.
I’d met her several times
as she’d come to us for castings,
she was never skinny, in fact known as one of the more curvy girls.
she never ever looked anywhere NEAR 88 pounds,
closer to about 115 at her thinnest
which is heavy for NY runway.
(i do not make or agree with the rules, I only state them)
word on the street is
drugs.
thats all i will say.
furthermore-
every model i know is naturally thin.
i dont know even one gal wita disorder.
5′9 to 6′0
95-110 pounds
is the standard for runway
and no designer wants a sick girl.
9. Valaurwen | January 30th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
“5?9 to 6?0
95-110 pounds
is the standard for runway
and no designer wants a sick girl.”
Whoa whoa call me crazy but wtf?! 5′9″ to 6′0″ paired with the 95 – 110 lbs requirement is inhumane. NO ONE is “naturally” that weight at that freaking height. I’ve been born and raised in NYC and I tell you that every single girl that I run across of those proportions is usually a blody model and is ALWAYS suffering from some eating disorder although they almost always claim to be “just fine”. Before you know it all models will be dropping dead trying to conform to these fashion/editorial industry “standards”. The fashion industry is psycholigically and emotionally abusive, sickening and depressing.
10. Megan | January 31st, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Here’s Nico’s site: http://www.xanga.com/tstarvelous
Explains a lot about her comments, don’t you think? She looks like an Auschwitz victim.
11. Guy | February 6th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
http://www.xanga.com/tstarvelous
This is the sickest thing i`ve seen in whole life . For what the hack can someone do such a thing to himself ?
Fashion girls should have a BMI from 20 to 25 … not below that .Why in the hack do stupid fashion designers prefer girls of a BMI below 20 . Me as a guy I would prefer a girl of 23-27 BMI …. not in the hell a girl of
12. Katie | March 9th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
I use to be a runway model in New York.
And when I first started modeling I weighed about 130 with the height of 6′. I was a skinny girl but I had hips….
When I started modeling in NY I was told to drop weight and have the measurements of 33/24/34
Which with excercise and eating salads and running 5 miles aday a reached that 33/24/34 measurment putting me weighing in at 114.
NOT HEALTHY.
Its sad we look to this beautiful thin girl for inspiration to be thin, when they are killing themselves by unhealthy eating habits.
I no longer do modeling and maintain a healthy weight and when modeling scouts approach me now to do modeling I tell them I cant be there 114 pound model.
Girls you are beautiful the way you are.
Be healthy!
13. stacy | April 19th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
she was pretty but it shoudnt matter what size you are to be a model there should be diffrent sizes and shaps of models not all 5 feet 8 and 89 pounds thats just dumb to starve yourself to be skinny be yourslef !!
14. jenni | April 26th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
The pictures that you see in the model index, etc are from when Reston was healthier. She was 88 pounds when she died. The pictures on the website were not taken when she was 88 pounds. She was probably closer to 115, which is still considered under weight. Here is a link so you can see what Reston looked like at 88 pounds: (the second picture)
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Anorexia-Kills-Another-Model-40393.shtml
And also, it is such a joke about the “naturally thin” comments. I’m 5′9″ and weigh 140, and I’m a size 8. I think that I look sexy. But I have to watch what I eat, even to saty at that weight. In oder for me to be 120 or lower like a model,. I’d have to live on salad and diet coke. I love food too much to do that. So, yes, I would be “naturally thin” if I ate like a bird. “Naturally thin” can mean a lot of things. What must one do to be “naturally thin”? Not eat? Run 10 miles a day?
15. jenni | April 26th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I’m responding to Nico:
5′9 to 6′0
95-110 pounds
is the standard for runway
This is disgusting. To be 5′9″ and 95 pounds is EMACIATED and is considered STARVATION from the World Health Organization. I’m 5′9″ and weigh 140. I’m a size 8 and curvy. I look great. I was 115 at my lowest (I used to be bulemic) and my boyfriend thought that I looked like shit. Who wants to fu*k a bag of bones? he’d say to me.
It is quite possible that Reston abused drugs as a way to stay slim. But if you look at her in the second picture, that is foul. If Armani sends a model home because sh’s too thin, then something must truly be wrong.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Anorexia-Kills-Another-Model-40393.shtml
16. alice | July 19th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
you guys should not be so hard on nico. It is true that moeling is absurd but it was not him who made it so. It it you. It is the consumer. When the comsumer stops buying the product. The product will change. I am Brazilian and I take these matters to heart. Unfortunatly the truth is in Brazil many of these girls ARE that skinny. It is not always malnutirtion even though that is the case with this particlar model. The diet in brazil i different though we eat a lot our food is natural and not as fattening we walk everywhere because everything is close by. It is because this country is unhealthilly obese that you guys do not understand this. Your preaching will do these women no good. Anorexia is a disease of control not always image.
17. Christina | July 20th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
While I agree with the above poster that the increasing prevalence of obesity may indeed be what causes some of our obsession with thinness, pretending that walking everywhere and eating healthier foods has anything to do with model sizes/weights is laughable.
I’m six foot tall, and weigh about 145-150 pounds. That’s with lots of walking and biking places (Brazil’s not the only country outside the US where people don’t drive everywhere) and a healthy diet. I’ve been bulimic and as low as 121, and all I have to say to Nico is, how many of those 6 foot 100 lbs models are still menstruating regularly?
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Don’t worry, fashion isn’t first to come to the conclusion that girls are much more desirable than grown women. Gymnastics is way ahead of you there, deaths inclusive.
and as far as the “consumer” dictating these standards goes, while that might hold true for the amount of diet obsession among the general populace, as far as fashion goes it’s utter BS. Fashion shows have nothing to do with real life clothes, or real life women anymore. Fashion designers see themselves as artists putting a piece of art in scene, and the less the model looks like a real woman, the better.
Finally, the link posted above to the shocking picture of Reston at 88 lbs looks a lot more like what I’d expect BMI 13 to look like, but I’m a little confused…supposedly the Armani shoot was right before her hospitalization, and on the Armani picture she looks nothing like that. So I suspect at least one of the two is heavily photoshopped.
No matter, I’d be all for making regular health checks for models mandatory (bloodwork, weighing, checking for regular menses) and disallowing those who don’t pass, and impose heavy sanctions on agencies or fashion houses that try to put them on the catwalk.
18. michelle cunningham | August 10th, 2007 at 12:22 am
hey there guys, i feel so sorry for ana.she was so beautiful and what has has is such a shame. may she r.i.p x
19. marc mez | November 16th, 2007 at 3:41 am
R I P
20. Stefanie | November 18th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Rest In Peace Ana.
I hope her death makes more people realize how serious eating disorders are & they cannot be ignored.
21. Marie-Claude | March 20th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
im just saying models under 100 shouldnt be aloud on stage its too thin its GROSSE!!!!! models should be every shape and size after all not everyone in the world is as thin as these woman!! why do they make there clothing so tiny???? but for everyone to wear????
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