Young models on drugs, sexual abuse, extreme dieting and eating disorders - award-winning investigative writer Halperin had heard all these stories as well as claims from industry insiders, that they are exaggerated, isolated, torrid footnotes to the real business of catching the world's eye. Then someone in Halperin's own family came forward with a first-hand account...Going undercover in an industry built on youth, wealth, and superficiality, Halperin's account is of a world whose glamorous facade hides some very ugly realities. It's all about mega-money and stabbings, adulation and addictions, aspirations and desperation, and out of these whirlwind tales of naive young people trying to make it, emerge startling portraits of lives on the brink of fame...and tragedy. With interviews from over 300 models, designers, agents, and fashion insiders, BAD AND BEAUTIFUL is a manic trip through superstardom, sexual slavery, anorexia, racism, alcohol and drugs - the real lowdown on what it's like to be a supermodel.