Adrianne Curry

Born on Aug. 6, 1982 in Joliet, IL, reality television personality Adrianne Curry burst onto the scene after winning “America’s Next Top Model” (CW, 2003- ) during its first season. Despite having become a reality star at 20 years old, Curry struggled through years of adversity before achieving success – she was molested when she was five and raped in her early teens, resulting in cocaine and heroin abuse and suicide attempts throughout her adolescence. In her junior year at Joliet West High School, a fellow student pulled a gun on Curry, forcing her to leave school and later obtain her GED. She subsequently went to work as a waitress at various restaurants while falling for one scam after another in pursuit of her modeling dreams. Finally, she cleaned up her act prior to auditioning for “America’s Next Top Model” and made the cut of 10 potentials which would appear on supermodel Tyra Banks’ then fledgling show.

After beating out nine other girls, Curry went on to become a prominent face on numerous top magazines, including Us Weekly , Maxim and Marie Claire . She also appeared on several other reality shows, starting with season four of “The Surreal Life” (VH1, 2002-06), which depicted a motley crew of fringe celebrities trying to function in a single house. Curry shared space with former “Brady Bunch” seventies star Christopher Knight. After setting her sights on the one-time teen idol, the two began dating, despite a considerable age difference and maturity level. Curry and Knight then went on to star in “My Fair Brady” (VH1, 2005- ), a chronicle of the couple’s developing relationship that culminated in marriage during season two; the third season saw the couple pondering whether or not to have a child. Meanwhile, the never-shy Curry appeared in a nude pictorial for Playboy in a February 2006; she later followed with a second set of photos in a January 2008 issue.