"It was a very coffee and smoking cigarettes diet...If you were going on at 12 o'clock, you wouldn't eat all day, because, what if something didn't fit? Or what if it didn't look good?"

Quinn, who modeled regularly from ages 12 to 19, says that buffet tables overflowing with eggs, bagels and sandwiches would remain untouched the day of a show, because the models feared gaining even a pound.

Quinn says that while most models she knew were naturally thin, many developed eating disorders in the effort to become ultra-thin.

The thinner you become, the more competitive modeling is, says Quinn, 21, now a senior government major at Harvard University.

Quinn didn't want to be a part of the "heroin chic" look of the early 1990s.

In the modeling industry, girls become aware of their bodies at a much younger age, says the 5-foot-10-inch Quinn, who also modeled for Ralph Lauren. She blames mothers for pressuring their daughters to succeed in the industry.

"It makes you want to work that much harder if you know your mom's going to be mad at you if you don't get that commercial," Quinn says.