Beverly Johnson says she got hooked on drugs in the 1970s after living on a diet of cocaine, a bowl of rice and two eggs a week in an attempt to become stick-thin.
The supermodel — who is celebrating the 50th anniversary of becoming the first Black woman to appear on the cover of Vogue — told Page Six that she took the appetite-killing drug after fashion industry insiders encouraged her to look “chiseled to the bone” for photo shoots.
“We were led to believe that cocaine was not addictive. We didn’t know cocaine was addictive. Everyone used drugs back in the day but that particular drug for models was used because we did not eat,” Johnson told us, “I remember eating two eggs and a bowl of brown rice a week. I would be shaking in a cab, and I would say pull over because I have to get a bag of M&Ms.”
“I would just stop and get the shakes. We did not eat, and every time you came to work they would say, ‘Yes! Chisel to the bone girl. Yes,’ like congratulating you. Nobody really told you the truth.”
She says that she only began to understand her situation when her concerned mother made her get out of the bathtub one day and “put me in a three-way mirror.” “It was the first time I saw my bones looking back at me,” she told us, “It was a major wake up call for me.”
She’s now been sober for over 50 years.
The 71-year-old is appearing in a one-woman show titled “Beverly Johnson In Vogue.”
In the performance she discusses her modeling and acting career, her family, lovers and growing up in Buffalo, New York, as well as paying homage to the legendary women that came before and after her.
During a recent appearance on Sirius XM’s “Sway in the Morning” the legendary supermodel revealed that she and financier Brian Maillian secretly tied the knot in Las Vegas last year.
“Beverly Johnson In Vogue” is playing at the 59E59 Theatre until Feb. 4.
