Plus-Sized Model Renn: I Risked My Life To Be Thin

Agent reassures us she's not being unhealthy

(NEWSER) - Plus-size model Crystal Renn never looks “fat”—but tongues started wagging about her size after she walked in a recent Karl Lagerfeld Chanel show, looking, dare we say, skinny. But “she is not trying to lose weight at all,” her agent says. “She fluctuates between a 10 and a 14” and happens to be closer to a 10 right now, thanks to a Patagonia hiking vacation and lots of traveling. Check out a photo from the show in People . More»

Crystal Renn is the most successful, but others hope for more work

(NEWSER) - At 5 feet 9 and about 165 pounds, Crystal Renn doesn’t look plus-size in person—but she is the industry’s most successful plus-size model, and potentially the face of a new movement in fashion. “You’re not big,” said a surprised creative director when he met her recently for her appearance in V magazine’s “size issue”—but photographers often purposefully emphasize her size. More»

The better idea would be to incorporate the models into every issue

(NEWSER) - V magazine is the latest to jump on the plus-size models bandwagon, and it’s making news—but should it be? The New York Post —in the delicately-titled article “Heavy Changes”—broke news of the January issue, featuring models like Crystal Renn. But Amy Odell think this is just the latest “publicity horse” for a magazine that recently made headlines by featuring models in blackface. More»

Crystal Renn recalls battle back to good health

(NEWSER) - In her teens, Crystal Renn punished herself relentlessly in pursuit of her dream of becoming a model. After years of self-inflicted hell, the 5-foot-9, 165-pound Renn has found success by being herself—she is now the world's highest-paid plus-size model. Time chats with her:

• On her introduction to modeling: "One day a scout came up to me and said 'Oh my gosh, you're going to be the next supermodel.' I didn't even know what that meant. He pulled out a picture of Gisele and said, 'This is who you can be.' But he said I had to lose nine inches off my hips."

To stay plus-size would have meant another eating disorder, model says

(NEWSER) - Pressure to be thin caused model Crystal Renn to develop an eating disorder early in her career—but after she became a plus-size model, she felt similar pressure not to get thin. Critics were flabbergasted when Renn, 24, shed some of her famous curves last year, but Renn says she’s just doing what is healthiest for her. “If I followed what the public wanted from me, or what the media wants from me, I would be doing the same thing. I would have a binge-eating disorder,” she says in a video blog for the Ford modeling agency. More»