Ali Michael started modeling when she was 15 years old. At the time she weighed 128 lbs.; which wasn't bad for her five-feet-nine-inches frame. But after repeated negative comments at fashion shows she began to lose weight, eventually dropping to 100 lbs. And her menstrual cycle stopped.

"She confides how she was sitting with four girls at a show in Paris last year when she mentioned she had not had a period for over a year, 'and one by one each of them said "me too."'... Having been dragged to a doctor and nutritionist by her worried mother, she began eating healthily and her menstrual cycle returned to normal, but her catwalk career appears over."

Casting directors have told her that her legs are "too plump" though she currently only weighs 106 lbs. Michael hopes that, by sharing her story, she's put the spotlight on the fashion industry's unrealistic expectations, and that young girls will realize the dangers of aspiring to be "super-thin." Source: The Guardian - United Kingdom

Labels: dangers_of_eating_disorders, expectations, modeling