Gia Marie Carangi [ 2 ] January 29, — November 18, was an American supermodel, considered by some to be the first supermodel. After Carangi became addicted to heroin , her career rapidly declined, which ultimately led her to quit modeling in In , at age 26, she died of AIDS -related complications. Believed to have contracted it from a contaminated needle, she became one of the early notable women to die of the virus.
She had three older brothers, one of them was from her father's previous marriage and one younger half-brother. Her father was Italian, and her mother was of Irish and Welsh ancestry.
Joseph and Kathleen had an unstable, violent marriage, ultimately leading Kathleen to abandon the family when Carangi was eleven years old. Gia was described as "needy and manipulative" by relatives who recalled her as spoiled and shy as a child and a "mommy's girl" who did not receive the motherly attention that she desired.
Those who knew Gia blamed her "fractured childhood" for the instability and drug dependence that plagued her adult life. In her adolescent years, Carangi found the attention she sought from other teenage girls, befriending them by sending flowers. While attending Abraham Lincoln High School , Carangi bonded with "the Bowie kids", a group of obsessive David Bowie fans who emulated Bowie's "defiantly weird, high-glam" style. Carangi was drawn to Bowie for his fashion preferences and his ambiguous gender play and outspoken bisexuality.
One of Carangi's friends later spoke of her " tomboy persona", describing her relaxed openness about her sexuality as reminiscent of the character Cay in the film Desert Hearts Carangi and her "bi-try Bowie-mad" friends hung out in Philadelphia's gay clubs and bars.
