Listen to Gerren’s Episode on Pop Culture Hour

By Kenn Gold, Angela Gold & Shaun Daily

 At 12 years of age, Gerren Taylor was plucked from the streets of Los Angeles and whisked into the Glamorous Life of the Fashion Runway World and became one of the world’s youngest Supermodels.  At almost 6 feet tall at 12 years old, Gerren made history when she wore the show stopping wedding gown at Richard Tyler’s NYC show. She followed that with Tommy Hilfiger, Betsy Johnson and Tracy Rees. The Los Angeles Times, New York Times, etc did cover stories on the 12 year old phenom and Oprah Winfrey had her on her show.

But by the time Gerren hit 14 years of age, she was considered to big for the run way at 6 feet 120 lbs a size 4, one runway show booker in NYC called her obese!  As fast as her career started it ended, leaving this young child with self doubt about her looks and her body.  She spiraled into a depression and could barely look at herself in the mirror… she started dieting and really playing a dangerous game with her health just to fit into this mold of perfect that the modeling industry creates.

Now at 18 years old, Gerren who still models print and who is one of the stars of BET channel’s teen reality show Baldwin Hills, has a different story to tell.  Through support of family she is breaking down her insecurities about herself and speaks out to young girls about body image and being proud of who you are inside and out.  She believes that telling her story to other tween/teens may save a life or two, and if she had to go through her humiliation to help another girl like her, she feels that it was all worth it.

Do you want to start off by talking about America the Beautiful, the documentary that just came out in August?  We saw part of the Baldwin Hills episode where you were getting ready for the premiere.

Basically, my part begins before I ever dreamed of stepping on the runway.  At school I was always teased because I was always the tallest person and the skinniest person.  I was called giraffe, sticks, beanpole- everything you can think of, that’s what I was called.  There was one incident on the bus, I used to ride the bus to school, when this little boy yelled, “Raise your hand if you think Gerren is a giraffe!” The whole bus raised their hand, and I just got off the bus in tears.  It was pretty bad when I was younger.  My mom and grandma always gave me strong affirmations, and gave me a very spiritual background that basically taught me how to run myself.

Your bio says you were 6 foot tall by the time you were 12, is that right?

I was 5’10”.  In America the Beautiful, the film covers the obsession with beauty and how it’s bad for us really.  It makes us aware of the power the media has on us, and covers other topics like cosmetics and plastic surgery.  It’s about how the media affects society.  For my story, it talks about how I started modeling when I was 12.  I was on Oprah and Entertainment tonight.  I did Tommy Hilfiger.  So it tells my whole story of modeling, then how it came to a screeching halt by the time I was 14. 

Tell us about that.  How did your career come to a halt, and what happened there?

Some people in the fashion industry called me obese, at a size 4.  It was really hard because I didn’t look at myself as bigger.  At first, I was like, “Whatever!”  So I went to Paris and London to see if maybe I could model there.  And they said, “No, you have to be a size 0, or negative.” I didn’t even know negative existed.  After that, I came back to the States and I was really depressed.  I developed an eating disorder and wasn’t eating.  It was really hard for me.  But I would say I have no regrets because something positive did come from it.  My validation now comes from helping other people.  Low self esteem and a negative body image is running rampant in high school and with all my friends.  So  basically, I just get together and have self esteem seminars with young girls and basically help people.

That’s really unbelievable that they would consider size 4 obese.  For those of us that aren’t in the industry, and lead an everyday life, it’s hard to understand.

Yeah, it was really hard for me to cope for a long time, but then I got over it.  I realized that it’s our souls and our spirits.  True beauty is found on the inside and how you treat others, and your charisma and your personality are what’s important.  Once I realized that, I was able to help people, and tell them that the images that we are bombarded with every day by the magazines; a lot of girls are trying to replicate that image.  But you can’t it’s a mirage.  The celebrities don’t really look like that.  Nobody’s perfect.  A lot of people don’t know about the airbrushing, the Photoshop, changing the noses and making the necks look longer- all that. 

In doing the documentary have you faced any backlash from the industry or from those who are promoting these images?

Well, my story isn’t so much- Well it is making them look bad in a way.  But it’s more like the director that is getting all the grief, because he’s the one that put it together.  He’s the one that put the cosmetic and all the other industries out there.  He’s getting more of it, and people look at my story, and it’s just kind of an awe type of thing. 

Is the film going to have a wider release?  It looks like from the webpage that it’s been in quite a few cities, but sort of just here and there.

Yeah, we had film festivals in Chicago and New York.  And it’s getting some good publicity, and we’ll be doing film festivals around the world.  I did a seminar in South Africa for young girls and it really helped them.

How did you get involved with Baldwin Hills?

The producer, Michelle, found me on MySpace.  It was before they even knew what they were going to do with the show.  They didn’t know what station it was going to be on, and were thinking about MTV and a bunch of other stations.  That was kind of just luck. 

Is it a scripted show, or do they tell you what conversations to have?

No, it’s not scripted.  They don’t tell us what conversations to have.  The most they do is give us our location where we need to be, and what time, then we just do what we do when we get there.

Is it a realistic look into your life, or how does it work?

Yeah, it’s a realistic look into a part of me and my friends and stuff like that.

One of the things I noticed that seemed to be really unique from the clips of the show that we saw is that it looks the parents are involved.  Is that something that sets this show apart?

Yeah, that’s one of the reasons they really get the parents involved.  And it kind of helps you to understand the family and to understand the kids, because they have the parents in the show.  It makes it seem so much more like you know the character.

 So you’re on Season 1 and 2 of Baldwin Hills.  Do you know yet if there’s going to be a Season 3?

We’re shooting Season 3 right now, and there might be a Season 4.

Do you know when Season 3 airs?

January, because we’re wrapping it up now.

It’s really great that you are out there telling girls that they can do it no matter their size, or height, or weight.

Yeah, Oprah had a study that showed that teen age girls are more afraid of gaining weight than getting cancer or loosing a parent.  So that’s really sad.  I just tell girls that do want to model, to do it so it’s just a hobby.  Go to school, and have stuff that you can fall back on, because if you just rely on modeling, that’s not healthy. 

Getting into modeling at such a young age, were there restrictions on how much you could work, or how did that work out?

When I did photoshoots, I’d have to have a teacher on set because it was still school hours.  And fashion shows were usually on weekends.  If I was going to New York for two weeks or something, I’d have to get homework packets and bring them with me.  So it was like I still had to do my work even though I was gone.  As far as clothing and so on, my mom was always with me and she would be like, “No, she can’t wear that.” Or, “You need to add more material to that.”  Stuff like that.  She was always there.

How does your mom feel about the modeling industry?  Was she happy you went into it?

She’s happy that I was able to buy my own car.  I just turned 18.  She was happy that I was able to do stuff on my own and find a career so young and save money for college and stuff like that.  That’s what she’s happy about.

What are you going to study in college, or have you decided yet?

I have a scholarship to USC, UCLA, Pepperdyne and a couple of other places to play Volleyball.  But I hurt my back, so I’m not sure where I’m going to go, but I’m going to study psychology. 

Overall with everything that happened, would you say your modeling was a good thing overall?

Yeah, I think it was a good thing because I have no regrets and I’m able to talk to young girls and help them see things about themselves and their body image.  The power of language is really important.  When you say to each other, “You look beautiful”, people really look at that.  And they really appreciate it, so when you hear it from somebody else and don’t try to copy it from a magazine, then it feels good.

Do they push plastic surgery in the modeling industry, as well as the weight issue?  Or is that more of a Hollywood thing?

I don’t think the modeling industry pushes plastic surgery to the girls so much, because they get them so young.  At 21 you need to retire, so you don’t get the old age and wrinkles. That’s more for acting.  I know one of the models told me that her agent sent packages of crack for her to sniff, for free.  I don’t know if that’s true, but I heard that.  Also, I know there’s an agency in Paris that puts circus mirrors in the agency so every time you look at a mirror, you look fat.  So there’s really ridiculous stuff like that that goes on. 

That seems like something that needs to be changed, and that just regular people could change by not buying into it.

I tell my girls that we’re not victims, that we can make a difference.  If every single person in a high school of 4000 kids writes a letter to their favorite magazine saying they are tired of seeing the same skinny models, eventually they’ll start changing.  But if we keep buying that stuff, they’re not going to change.

Do you still find yourself watching what you eat really closely?

I eat a lot and just work out so it balances out!  Half the time I eat healthy, but the other half is like McDonalds.  I’m not going to starve myself.

Check out Gerren’s myspace page at : http://www.myspace.com/pinkangel1990