Killer Face, Killer Body...Deadly Job?

Daul Kim

I wrote this piece for Models and Moguls where I am a weekly contributor, and have decided to share it here. The cause of Daul Kim’s death has not been confirmed at the time of publication; however, for the purpose of exploring issues within the modelling industry (as much as I can in 750 words) and due to lack of evidence to the contrary, I am basing this article on the assumption of suicide.

Last week the fashion world was stunned by the news that top model Daul Kim was found dead in her Paris apartment in an apparent suicide. The 20 year-old South Korean beauty and Karl Lagerfeld muse had written on several occasions on her blog 'I Like to Fork Myself' - which is now restricted to invited readers only - how she was feeling lonely and depressed, then came back to assure her fans she was fine. In fact she was far from fine. Kim hung herself on November 20.

The pressures of the high fashion modelling industry are no secret; girls in their teens and early 20s fly alone from location to location, working long hours catering to the, at times impossible, demands of their agencies and photographers while their family and friends are left behind, and struggling to make sense of and adapt to foreign cultures. On October 30 Kim wrote “Mad depressed and overworked, the more I gain the more lonely it is. I know I’m like a ghost.”

Kim is the second model on the rise to end her own life in 18 months. In June 2008, Ruslana Korshunova, also just 20 years old, jumped to her death from her 9th floor Manhattan apartment. While her friends have said there were no signs she would do such a thing - one claiming “she was always happy” - like Kim she also expressed despair online. In March she had written on a Russian networking site “I’m so lost, will I ever find myself?” While not yet a household name, the Russian model known for her feline looks and Rapunzel hair had been named as a 'face to watch' by British Vogue, with several covers and high profile campaigns under her belt including a perfume commercial for Paris fashion house Nina Ricci.

Ruslana Korshunova

And in March of this year a model turned actress whose film career was taking off took her own life in circumstances eerily similar to those surrounding Kim’s death. Lucy Gordon, a 28 year-old Briton was found hanged in her Paris apartment located in the city’s trendy Right Bank in the 10th arrondissement, the same neighbourhood where Kim had lived. Gordon had played reporter Jennifer Dugan in Spiderman 3 after making the transition from modelling to acting; she had been the face of U.S. make-up giant Cover Girl. However, it appears a row with her cinematographer boyfriend the night before prompted her desperate act. She left two suicide notes, one detailing her last wishes regarding her estate and a letter addressed to her parents.

Lucy Gordon

While many models go on to flourish within the industry and forge successful post-modelling careers – Cindy Crawford and Elle Macpherson, for example – there are many others who succumb to the pressures, most of whom we don’t hear about unless they’re considered a rising star, the ones who will be missed. Young teen girls who have the opportunity to work as a model typically leave school, their families, and their cultures, to pursue their dream career which has a relatively short shelf-life compared to more traditional paths; do it now or the chance may pass you by. Yet, a 16 year-old is hardly equipped to deal with the unaccommodating and unforgiving adult world she’s been thrust into with only her perfect bone structure and long legs on which to rely. Pitfalls can include eating disorders, drugs and alcohol abuse and falling prey to unscrupulous older men – it’s not uncommon for models to be used as prostitutes.

Former model Louise Gagnon worked in Paris in the 80s and went on to become an editor of a French fashion magazine, after barely escaping the industry with her life. "I was raped regularly. Sometimes multiple times per week. I was depressed all the time and the only thing that made me feel better was the heroin. It didn't stop when I stopped modelling either," Gagnon recalls. "I was in some bad relationships with the photographers who I had met years earlier and I was involved with them professionally so I had to ignore my feelings. It was complicated and I became more and more disgusted at myself everyday. I finally decided I needed to quit before I killed myself."

In a video Kim made during New York fashion week for New York magazine's series Model Diaries, she recounts how she was once asked by another model what she was reading. She replied “Tolstoy” which prompted the witless model to correct her pronunciation of ‘Toy Story’. One could blame Kim's Korean accent for the misunderstanding but once cleared up it became apparent that the girl didn’t know who Tolstoy was, and this astounded and frustrated Kim, an accomplished painter who once had a solo show of her art in Seoul. A model seeking intellectual stimulation in the fashion industry is like a goldfish trying to survive in a bowl of porridge.

One can only speculate as to the reasons for the loss of these young lives. But it would appear that in these tragic cases the modelling industry took far more than it gave.

Prolonged, unrelenting stress can lead to depression. If you think you may be suffering from depression, you need to get help. Here are some online resources to consult, in addition to talking to your doctor:

http://helpguide.org/mental/depression_tips.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/mental_health/disorders_depression.shtml

http://www.depressionalliance.org/

Comments

[WendyB]

Mmm...yet it's always possible to quit a job. Especially one you've spent about three years in when you're all of 20 (re Kim). That's not the investment of a lifetime. It's really a tragedy but while I don't think the business did anything to help Kim, I think her problem was far more complex than the business.

[elena daciuk]

so so sad...each one was so beautiful...but more importantly...so young...your last comment summarizes it all very well...the industry took far more than it gave...
www.fabulousfinds-elena.blogspot.com

[Cassie @ Miss Polly]

A really well written article.

It's so sad in each case, and there's so much more that could be written. Whatever the personal, occupational issues these girls had each one is a sad loss to the world.

www.misspdolly.blogspot.com

[Denise @ Swelle]

Wendy - depression's a bitch. You can't up and quit it.

Elena - I have friends who were models and my God, the stories were shocking. And what was worse was how normalised it all became to them.

Cassie - So true, I felt so sad writing about this, it took a week after hearing about Daul to be able to do it.

♥

[Michelle]

I think it's important to remember that modelling is one of the only really high paying jobs an uneducated woman can get. Also that a lot of models are from poor countries, and might be their family's main source of income. Issues like that make "up and quitting" a job a lot more complicated than many people think about.

I don't think modelling will be so harsh to everyone, but the way models are treated right now in the industry is absolutely inexcusable.

[kim]

I think most of us regular people assume that life must be great for those sufficiently beautiful to be professional models. Of course, now that you have made me think about it, I can understand how difficult it must be to serve such an industry(and they have to serve too, like all of us). I also think that the late teens and early 20s are a dicey time for many women. I have, thankfully, little personal experience with suicide - just typing it makes my blood run cold. What devastation. What unspeakable loss.

[Rosanna]

I think that only too often these beautiful ladies are framed as "lucky"... they look great, they have a high paying job, they "must" be happy, right? So it's even harder to confess to be depressed. Therefore the first problem is not that harsh job - which at times it is because your body becomes a machine, something to have supercare of not something you enjoy any more - the main problem is that once you have difficulties you can't vent since "you have it all". As a person suffering from depression and being relatively lucky in life as far as looks, intelligence and personal relationships go, I was told many times that I "couldn't possibly have depression" and invited to "look at the bright side". The second problem is that yes, despite the glamour of the profession, often these girls need to work long hours, with minimal pauses and with poor diet (hypocaloric, without vitamins). Almost anybody would crash with a diet like that. I think parents should self-examine and give tough love more often... just because your 16 yr old girl can work and make thousands, it doesn't mean you can authorize her to do so in unhealthy environments, or put pressure on her to support her family (which is not a kid's job btw!). I think that Gisele's best luck is to have had parents who raised her with values (as opposed to relativism) because those values acted as a compass in her life, and it shows.

[Marta]

This article is really insightful and interesting. Working with models on a regular basis, I've come to understand how vulnerable their job can make them feel. People around them tend to treat them and talk about them as if they were objects. That's enough to make anyone depressed! I think being gentle with the people you work with is essential, and more so if the people you are working with are 16 year-old girls far away from their countries and families! The fashion industry is sometimes horrible.

[The Anthology]

My word. That is so heartbreaking. Beautifully written piece.

*Kelsey

[WendyB]

I agree that you can't decide not to be depressed. That's why I said I thought her issue was more than mere job stress. As I said, one can always quit a JOB. As you said, depression can't be quit. I've read many articles pointing the finger at modeling, like it's the worst of all jobs, sure to lead to misery, but that's far too simplistic. I think people love to blame modeling out of a sort of Schadenfreude: "See, being a professional beauty makes you unhappy!" As I said, in some ways, her career might have exacerbated problems she already had, but I am not convinced she would have been perfectly content as a secretary or mechanic or Google programmer or a doctor or whatever other job is supposed to be so much healthier for one's psyche. This was a young woman who stopped going to school at 15 and who came from a society that can be very, very hard on women. Who knows what her upbringing was like. There's a lot more to the story of her emotional health than being a model.

[Denise @ Swelle]

Wendy - you make a good point. There are many ways to look at this, and we can't possibly know for sure. It's a very personal issue for me and I know how being thrown head first into a situation that creates overwhelming stress and isolation, without underlying issues, can lead to this, so I've got a bit of a sensitivity about the whole thing. ♥

[enc]

I think it's a tough task to generalize about the conditions of models. Unless we are models ourselves, we have no idea what their lives are like.

Additionally, depression is a wily and subversive illness. It can take many forms, and it can morph from one intensity to another in seconds, without warning. Depression can lead people to do things they'd never, ever do ordinarily.

And let's not forget that people hide depression, because it's still misunderstood, dismissed, and scary.

[Denise @ Swelle]

Enc, that was succinctly put. And most importantly, absolutely true.

Denise ♥

[rae]

It makes me sick to think of young models being raped, then having no friends or family to stick up for them, and maybe not even knowing the language enough to find the police and report the crime. I hope that parents of models and agents will read this and maybe do more to protect these poor girls.