I had dropped out of school and was a runaway, so I didn't have family to fall back on if I didn't work. I didn't have a lot of other options of making money other than modeling.

Just as young people absorb all kinds of messages from the media, young girls learn what it means to be a woman by watching the older women in their lives.

You have to find a balance with food in your life - you can't take out food. It can be absolutely terrifying.

I've learned to surround myself with women who lift me up and leave me feeling nurtured rather than drained.

Eating disorders, body dysmorphia and a general dissatisfaction with one's life and body seems to ail too many young people.

Motherhood has brought me many joys and insights, but the new perspective it granted me on the role I had inadvertently played in young women's lives for the 2 decades I spent in the modeling industry was downright sobering.

I am not naturally that thin, so I had to go through everything from using drugs to diet pills to laxatives to fasting. Those were my main ways of controlling my weight.