Article July 20, 2009 Issue

'To God, you are the most beautiful thing that exists'

BY DANIELA WILBERT

I was discovered by a modeling agent when I was 14 and went to São Paulo to do some sample modeling tests. (São Paulo is a vibrant place, where everything happens, like New York City.) Soon, I was selected to be represented by a big agency in São Paulo, so I moved there. And then I started to get a lot of jobs with magazines, catalogs, and also to walk the runway.

While I was there, I wasn't going to school. Instead, I lived in an apartment building with other girls of the same age, and there was a guardian there from the agency who took care of us. And I went back and forth to visit my family.

Although I liked modeling, after a little while I felt anxious and unhappy because I missed my family. I felt very lonely in a huge city of 21 million people, where I didn't know anyone. Then, I began to gain weight, and this made me lose some modeling jobs.