Swimsuit Model, 53, Exposes Dark Details About ‘Heroin Chic’ Era

Ron Galella / Ron Galella Collection via Getty Supermodel Molly Sims is calling out the brutal body standards she faced at the height of the so-called “heroin chic” era—and the Hollywood stars who pretended their looks came from water and sleep.

The 53-year-old model and actress opened up about the darker side of the modeling industry, particularly during the 1990s and early 2000s, in an Us Weekly interview published earlier this month.

She recalled being pressured to shrink herself when dramatically underweight bodies were in style.

“It was devastating,” Sims, a two-time Vogue cover model, told the outlet.

“I came in during a difficult era called ‘heroin chic.’ [The look] was about 20 pounds underweight and very goth.” The former Sports Illustrated and Victoria’s Secret runway model said people constantly picked her apart as she tried to break into the industry.

“I was told I was too fat, too thin, too blonde, too tall, too short,” she said.

“I didn’t know my nose was crooked until I was 21.” Sims went on to appear in French Vogue, land major campaigns for brands including Old Navy and CoverGirl, and star on NBC’s Las Vegas for its five-season run.

But she said getting there meant cycling through nearly every trendy diet she could find.

“I’ve done every diet—the grapefruit diet, Atkins.

There’s not one thing I didn’t do,” Sims said.

“The amount of rice cakes one could consume was daunting; [everything was] low-fat and fat-free.” She also pushed back against the beauty gatekeeping that made already-unattainable standards seem effortless.

“Hollywood people would say, ‘I just drink a lot of water, and I slept eight hours.’ I’m like, ‘No, you f---ing didn’t,’” Sims said.

Models, she added, were often much more candid with one another, swapping details about extreme diets and cosmetic maintenance.

“Early on, other models would help you,” she said.