DIETS...DIETS...DIETS...DIETS....DIETS...DIETS...DIETS...DIETS...

CRYSTAL RENN STARVED HERSELF FOR YEARS TO MAKE IT AS A MODEL. BUT IT WAS ONLY WHEN SHE PILED ON THE POUNDS THAT SHE FINALLY MADE IT BIG

By Frances Lyndon

It’s only four years since model Crystal Renn was so thin, her hair was falling out and her periods had stopped.

She was a seriously underweight UK size 4, yet her modelling agency insisted her thighs were “too hefty” and warned Crystal she’d have to be even slimmer if she wanted to make it as a model.

At the time, she weighed less than 7st.

Today, 21-year-old Crystal has made it big.

Now a size 16, top designers love her and fashion magazines are falling over themselves to feature her.

“I’m a hundred times happier and full of energy now,” she says.

“When I look at myself, I like what I see, and that comes across in photos.

"I’d never be tempted to return to the bad old days.”

During those “bad old days”, 5ft 9in Crystal lost almost half her body weight – dropping from 12st to less than 7st in just over two years.

She exercised non-stop and survived on a diet of lettuce, sugar-free gum, coffee and cigarettes.

“I was killing myself,” she admits.

“It reached the stage where I was weak, exhausted and miserable.

I’d work, then exercise for two hours a day, before crawling home to bed.

I survived on 600 calories a day and had no time or energy for anything else.”

Florida-born Crystal was only 14 when she was spotted by a model scout.

He promised her a great career, on the condition that she lose 10in from her hips.

“I’d been a skinny, lanky child who’d suddenly developed boobs and hips,” she says.

“So 10in didn’t sound like a big deal.

"I thought: ‘I can do that.’ I was ambitious and he handed me a dream – lose weight and you’ll join this exciting, creative world.

Don’t lose it, and you’ll stay where you are.

"Getting thin was my ticket to a better life.”

Within three months of being scouted, Crystal lost over 2st – going from 12st to under 10st, and down to a UK size 10.

“But I was still too big for fashion editorial work,” she recalls. “The agent said I’d have to lose more weight.”

So Crystal began starving herself.

For the next three years, her diet consisted of steamed vegetables for breakfast, with lettuce and Diet Coke for lunch and dinner.

“I knew I had an eating disorder but I just didn’t care,” she says now.

Crystal had a troubled childhood which she prefers not to discuss.

She moved into a flat on her own when she was 16 and, although her grandmother kept in touch, there was no one to keep a protective eye on her.

She grew thinner and thinner.

The crunch point came at a swimwear shoot.

Beforehand, she had worked out for 16 hours.

She felt so ill by the end of the modelling session, she was barely able to drag herself home.

Yet the agency informed her that her thighs were still too big.

“I freaked out,” she admits. “I asked them if they had any idea what I was putting myself through.”

Then, in 2004 her agent suggested that she might be happier becoming a plus-size model.

Crystal made the best decision of her career – to stop dieting and take her chances as a larger model.

She cut back on exercise and started eating properly again.

Within a year, her natural curves were back and she weighed 12st again.

Now, as she chats to Fabulous over a generous plate of salmon and vegetables and a glass of red wine, Crystal is no longer consumed by hunger, just by a desire to eat healthily.

Better still, her career has taken off.

She is now the face of Evans and has strutted the catwalk for Dolce & Gabbana.

She says that men have found her more attractive since she put on weight – although she only has eyes for her husband, 26-year-old English teacher Greg Vrecenak.

The couple married last June and now live together in New York.

In the flesh, Crystal looks gorgeous.

She certainly doesn’t look fat – just healthy.

And that, she says, is the point.

“People are always surprised when they meet me because they think of plus-size as huge, but actually I represent the average,” she says.

“Health is far more important that skinniness.

“I say be true to yourself, and stop worrying about what the rest of the world thinks.”

Crystal wears cardigan, £35, swimsuit, £28, earrings, £6, necklace, £12, Wooden bangles, £6 each, gold bangle, £8. all Evans (0845 121 4516). shoes, stylist’s own