Saturday, August 28, 2021

Wilhelmina Cooper - I ate twice a week

 Dutch-born Wilhelmina Cooper, whose features adorned the covers of more than 300 magazines before she and her husband started their own model agency,


In 1956, she borrowed money from her father to go to modeling school. She took on the stage name Winnie Hart, and in 1958, and she graduated from high school and joined the Models Bureau.

Patricia Stevens, a booker at another agency, approached Wilhelmina at the 1959 International Trade Show in Chicago and instructed her to lose 20 pounds if she wanted to become a successful model, as well as get rid of the stage name Winnie Hart. After losing the weight, she traveled to New York, where  Ford Modeling Agency told her that she needed to lose 20 more pounds and then she could go to Paris.

In Paris a colleague introduced Wilhelmina to diet pills. She reflected,

I was on continuous diets. I’m not fat as far as real life is concerned, but I certainly was when it came to modeling. I ate twice a week. In between, it was cigarettes and black coffee. On Wednesday, I had a little bowl of soup so I wouldn’t get too sick, or a little piece of cheese on a cracker. On Sunday, I’d have a small filet mignon without salt or any sauce. I was running on nervous energy as well as determination.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmina_Cooper#Biography












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THE SERENITY PRAYER

GOD GRANT ME THE SERENITY
TO ACCEPT THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE;
COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN;
AND WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.

LIVING ONE DAY AT A TIME;
ENJOYING ONE MOMENT AT A TIME;
ACCEPTING HARDSHIPS AS THE PATHWAY TO PEACE;
TAKING, AS HE DID, THIS SINFUL WORLD
AS IT IS, NOT AS I WOULD HAVE IT;
TRUSTING THAT HE WILL MAKE ALL THINGS RIGHT
IF I SURRENDER TO HIS WILL;
THAT I MAY BE REASONABLY HAPPY IN THIS LIFE
AND SUPREMELY HAPPY WITH HIM
FOREVER IN THE NEXT.
AMEN.

--REINHOLD NIEBUHR