Gia was born Gia Marie Carangi on January 29, 1960 in Philadelphia to Joe and Kathleen Carangi. Gia had two brothers, Joe and Michael. At a young age, Gia had a very turbulent life at home. Her parents constantly fought and in 1971, Kathleen packed up and left the family. Gia’s father owned sandwich shops which he needed to look after and because of this he wasn’t home to discipline the children. During her teens, Gia dabbled with drugs, alcohol and late night partying. As Gia grew up, people began noticing how striking she was with her big brown doe-like eyes, amazing figure and flowing mane of deep brown chestnut hair. In particular her mother, who tried to coax her into modeling.
In 1977, Gia was approached by aspiring photographer, Maurice Tannenbaum at a club. Tannenbaum eventually took Gia to Wilhelmina Cooper’s modeling agency in New York City. Cooper, a model herself is immediately taken with Gia, so much so that she absentmindedly forgets to offer her a contract. In 1978, Gia moves from Philadelphia to New York City. Gia’s modeling career exploded where she worked with the likes of Francesco Scavullo, Richard Avedon, Patrick Demarchelier and Bill Friedman. Gia made the covers of Cosmopolitan, American, British and French Vogue. Gia also did shots with Chris von Wangenheim, Mike Reinhardt, Alex Chatelain, Helmut Newton and Francois Lamy. Gia’s social life consisted of regularly attending clubs like the Mudd Club and Studio 54. In late 1978, she met makeup artist Sandy Linter while on a fashion shoot and eventually fell in love with her but it doesn’t last long. In March of 1980, Gia’s close friend and agent Wilhelmina Cooper, passed away of lung cancer. Gia is shattered by this loss and used drugs as a coping mechanism. Shortly after, Gia went in a downward spiral by exhibiting outbursts and not showing up for work. Late in 1980, Gia is featured in an issue of Vogue where track marks from heroin are apparent. During this time, Gia left the Wilhelmina agency to sign with Eileen Ford but is soon fired because of her instability. In 1981, Gia entered a 21-day detox program but quickly fell off the wagon due to a relationship she had started with a heavy drug user. At this time, nobody was interested in hiring Gia so she turned to photographer Scavullo who agreed to shoot her in late 1982 for a Cosmopolitan cover. It would be Gia’s last magazine cover.
In 1984, Gia attempted to get clean by joining a drug program. The next year Gia moved back to Philadelphia, and started working at a mall and took classes at a community college. Gia then disappeared and resurfaced, sick with pneumonia. In 1986 Kathleen, her mother decided to take her to a hospital in Pennsylvania and it is discovered that Gia had been suffering from AIDS, a relatively unknown disease at that time with no cure. Kathleen stayed by her daughter’s side until the end. On November 18, 1986, Gia Carangi passed away. She was only 26 years old. Gia is currently buried at Sunset Memorial Park in Feasterville, Pennsylvania.
