Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition, and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves

AT FOURTEEN, I WAS A REGULAR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT IN CLINTON, MISSISSIPPI, WHEN A MODELING SCOUT TOLD ME: YOU COULD BE A SUPERMODEL . . . BUT YOU’LL HAVE TO LOSE A LITTLE WEIGHT.

FOR GLAMOUR, FAME, AND ESCAPE, I LOST SEVENTY POUNDS.

This is a photo of me at SIXTEEN, when I signed a big modeling contract, moved to New York City, and started traveling around the world.

It is also when I developed a ferocious case of anorexia and exercise bulimia.

Until I decided enough was enough—I wanted to live.

And so I ate. And ate.

Offering a behind-the-scenes peek into the modeling industry, as well as a trenchant look at our weight-obsessed culture, Hungry is an inspiring and cautionary tale that will resonate with anyone who has battled society’s small-minded definitions of beauty.

This is me NOW, the leading plus-size model in America.

An inspiring tale for women of all ages, Hungry is an uplifiting memoir with a universal message about body image, beauty and self-confidence.

Crystal Renn is the leading plus-size model in America. At twenty-two years of age, she has appeared in four international editions of Vogue; starred in a Dolce & Gabbana ad campaign; served as the final model in Jean-Paul Gaultier’s Spring pret-a-porter show in a diaphanous, flower-strewn gown that Gaultier designed specifically for her curvaceous figure; was the cover girl on an international edition of Harper's Bazaar; appeared on The Tyra Banks Show, The View and The Oprah Winfrey Show; and has been photographed by Steven Meisel, Ellen von Unwerth, Steven Meisel, Ruven Afanador and Patrick Demarchelier. Renn lives in Brooklyn. Marjorie Ingall is a contributing writer at Self magazine and a columnist for The Forward. She has written for many other magazines, including The New York Times, Glamour, Redbook, Seventeen, Ms., Food & Wine, Wired, and the late, lamented Sassy, where she was the senior writer and health editor. At Sassy, she won several awards for health and social issues coverage. She is the author of The Field Guild to North American Males, the co-author of a sex-ed book for teenagers, Smart Sex and a former writer/producer at the Oxygen TV network.