Gia Carangi was one of the first "supermodels" and also one of the first "famous" women to die of AIDS. In a time when almost all models were blonde and blue eyed, Gia brought the streetwise, darker exotic beauty to the front of the modeling scene. Old friends look at you differently," Gia once said. "They don't see you as their sixth grade chum; they see you as an ideal of fashion." "I thank God that I am pretty or that people think I am pretty but there is much more to being a woman than that." As Gia became more famous, she dived deeper into the world of drugs....namely herion.....and it was from this drug use that she would eventually contact the dreaded disease which lead to complications that would cause her death. "I think the reason someone gets into something like that (drugs) is because for me, anyway, there were a lot of unanswered questions in my mind about work and about life. Money didn't interest me. I got to a point where I had all this money. I had everything I ever wanted and I said, What the hell is this all for? ... I learned a lot from my experience, so I don't regret it. It was good for me, like a slap in the face..." Gia was born in Philly and was a huge David Bowie fan in high school. Her mother was quoted as saying "Gia was far more special than anyone will ever know." She was often lonely and sad....she had everything yet felt she had nothing. I must admit, I knew very little about Gia before I started this page....I learned of her through the HBO movie "Gia" that came out several years ago. The movie only scraped the surface and made me want to learn more. How sad it is that such a beautiful young woman died at the age of 26 from such a terrible disease. "Wild, crazy and loved to party" but then again she seemed to have a softer, confused and child-like side, too. Gia is buried in Sunset Memorial Park in Feasterville,Pa.