MOVIE GIVES US A MODEL NOT TO FOLLOW (cont.)
By STEVE DUNLEAVY

She was nodding off in an abandoned building on Rivington Street surrounded by other heroin addicts using communal needles.

"Even among addicts, Gia's appetite for heroin was extraordinary - the addicts were amazed that such a little girl could go down there with that much money, buy that much heroin and do it all and not die. There were weekends when she would go down there and spend $2,500 on heroin," Hilton said.

Famous fashion photographer Scavulo, who put her on countless covers of Vogue and Cosmopolitan magazines, tells the camera, "It's a very sad, sad tragic story."

The documentary was shot, produced and directed by brother and sister team J.J. Martarano and Geraldine Martin.

"The story of Gia Marie Carangi was up until 1986, when she died, the most unfathomable tragedy," Martarano said.

Gia traveled to New York's fashion world from Philadelphia when she was 17, and Scavulo knew she had the stuff that fashion queens are made of.

"She came here with great drive and ambition to be the best. And she was," Martarano said.

But in the fashion world, which chews you up and spits you out, be careful what you pray for.

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