"Gia’s beauty and energy were only equalled by the pain and solitude that led her on the path to personal destruction through drug abuse and to the abyss of no return." ...Marcellous L. JONES


Gia, born Gia (Marie) Carangi on January 29, 1960, was a leading supermodel from the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Her life, a vicious and tragic circle of unhappiness and drug addiction, came to an even more tragic end. Infected with HIV, she died on November 18, 1986 due to AIDS-related complications.

Gia was among the very first women in the public’s eye to die from the disease. Her life, her grief, her battle with drugs and her untimely death served as a wakeup call to many in the fashion industry and the world over. Her death came at a time when the White House and First Lady Nancy Reagan raged a relentless battle against drug addiction in the US. Her death inspired the writing of countless articles, eulogies, television interviews and specials. It eventually became the subject the HBO television movie, “GIA”, for which Angelie Jolie picked up a best actress Emmy award for her disturbing performance of Gia Carangi.

From the day of Gia Marie Carangi’s birth, the Carangi clan new that she was special and that she would have a destiny different from others, yet one from which the world could learn. During an interview for the E! True Hollywood Story, Joe, Gia's brother, remembered said, "She had a special place being a girl”.
The Carangis raised Gia in the outskirts of Philadelphia, where her father, Joe, owned a string of hoagie shops. Her mother, Kathleen Carangi, took care of the kids. Despite the appearance of normalcy, turbulent arguments were often a part of the Carangi family’s daily regiment. "Gia and I used to sit on top of the steps every night and listen to them fight, and we hated it," recanted her brother, Michael Carangi.

In 1971, Kathleen moved out, leaving her husband and her children. At that time Gia was only eleven. This break-up and particularly the absence of Katherine to whom Gia was very close devastated her. Kathleen subsequently remarried a year later, dispersing any illusions of a possible reconciliation and a normal family life for Gia. From the abandonment that she felt from her mother’s leaving them to her remarrying, Gia would develop a fear of loneliness that ironically created a depth in her that no one would ever be able to access.
Gia ...

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