Adrianne Curry is the winner of the very first season of the model search reality show
America's Next Top Model created and hosted by supermodel
Tyra Banks . Born on August 6, 1982, Curry is currently the face of Merit Diamonds. Curry had been open about her turbulent years growing up. Not only was she abducted by her mother's ex-husband, she was raped by her biological teenager, too. When she turned 15, she ran away to pursue a career in modeling.
After her win on America's Next Top Model, Curry has modeled for several noted magazines, such as People, Maxim, Marie Claire, among others. It was reported that she was paid $2 million for a nude pictorial with Playboy in February, 2006. She, however, has severed ties with the show that propelled her to the top. Reports circulated that the falling-out occurred after Curry accused Banks of not delivering on all the promised prizes of the show, while calling her fake and nice only when the cameras were up.
She also has several television credits to her name as co-host on the game show Ballbreakers and as a celebrity panelist on Match Game.
In 2005, Curry was cast in VH1 show
The Surreal Life season 4. The show features celebrities who are said to be past their primes and puts them in a Hollywood Hills mansion for two weeks. As if this is not enough, unforgiving cameras also follow their every move. The challenges for this season include the cast starring in their own kung-fu movie and riding horses. In one of the earlier episodes, Curry divulged her crush on actor
Christopher Knight to rapper
Da Brat . This romantic angle would later prove to be one of the season's highlights, spawning a successful spin-off
My Fair Brady , in reference to Knight's famous role as Peter Brady from sitcom The Brady Bunch.
(Photo courtesy of VH1)