Humble

Gia never spoke to me about her attraction to women. I was like a big brother or father figure to her. She was always appropriate with me, and wanted me to be proud of her. Early one morning after a night out in the clubs, I went to her apartment to introduce her to a young man I had met whom I thought (and I might have been very stoned) looked a lot like Gia. I wanted to do pix of the two of them together. She was in bed with her then-squeeze, who happened to be a woman. I can’t remember who she was. I think Gia was somewhat embarrassed that I knew that she was gay. She was quite put-offish that morning. She didn’t let me into her apartment, but instead threw on jeans and a jean jacket and took us outside. The idea of me photographing the two of them together didn’t excite her in the least, or maybe she felt that this young man didn’t look like her.

There were periods in her life when she tried to be straight. When I first met her, she was dating a guy with a large farm in Bucks County. She invited me to a Halloween party at the farm that year. She was the hostess, just 16 or 17 years old. Dressed to the 10’s and very much a lady that night. I assumed that her boyfriend was a drug tycoon, as Bucks County was a haven for mushrooms and other things then. I also remember meeting her at Studio 54 and she was dating a millionaire from Long Island. That didn’t last long.

I was married in 1967. I hadn’t had a lot of experience with sex with women so I thought that all women’s breasts were round, firm and beautiful. Needless to say, when I first saw my wife’s I was disappointed as they were, although ample, less than perfect. I began to realize that women’s breasts came in all shapes and sizes, big and little, dark and pink nipples, firm and flabby. In other words, some were beautiful and some not.

Wilhelmina asked me to go with Gia on her first test and do her makeup and hair. We met in the city and went to the studio of an Israeli photographer. She was nervous, quiet, and excited all at the same time. I did her make up and hair, and then he had a wardrobe for her to put on. She had to change her blouse. I thought, “ Here comes the true moment! I’m sure this perfect creature is going to expose to me less than perfect breasts.” She took off her blouse slowly to reveal, to my astonishment and delight, the most perfect breasts that I could ever imagine. It was a relief, as I was ready to accept that the treasure I had discovered would be less than perfect.

Yet Gia was quite humble--a good word to describe one of her many attributes. I booked her for a shoot when she was with the Ford modeling agency, and she was amazing. She helped the photographer as much as she could in every shoot. By that, I mean that she connected with them and gave them 10 time more than what THEY wanted! Truly a giving and wonderful person. It’s so hard for me to see the way the world wanted to portray her. Many have only focused on her destruction, not the wonderful, heartfelt person that she was.