Recently, Bria Murphy took a break from the catwalk and sat down with Good Morning America to talk about the dark side of the modeling industry.
Although she’s still fairly to new to the game, Murphy explains how she’s already seen many models get caught up in a dangerous lifestyle of drugs and eating disorders. “Lots of girls get addicted to drugs and anorexia,” says Murphy. “There’s a whole list of things, because it’s a lot of pressure to be perfect.”
The 23-year-old beauty says that she’s all too familiar with these pressures and has personally experienced them too. “I’m a small girl naturally but I can gain weight,” she shared. “And I’m going through little hormonal changes and my body’s changing and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m gaining weight this week, I’m losing weight next week.'”
She also opened up about some of the shocking rituals some models take part in to maintain a small figure. “I’ve heard of people eating the cotton balls with the orange juice,” said the Dark and Lovely cover model. “They dip it in the orange juice and then they eat the cotton balls to help them feel full, because the cotton’s not doing anything. It’s just dissolving and it makes you think you’re full, but you’re not.”
“It’s your job to go into a room… and some people will just say no without an explanation, and some will be like, ‘Your nose is too big. Your butt’s too big. Your legs are flabby,'” she adds referring to the brutal critiques models sometimes get.
Murphy says she quickly realized that in such a cut-throat business she needed to put herself on display and become her biggest advocate amongst all the negativity.