Should Skinny Models Be Banned From Runways?

This is a partial transcript of "The Big Story With John Gibson," September 29, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.

JOHN GIBSON, HOST: We've seen the jokes about models being too skinny. But when does it become a serious problem? For one fashion show organizer in Madrid, it already has. The organizers banned underweight models from the runway and some folks are applauding this effort.

So will the fashion industry follow suit? Should they? We'll ask the first winner of "America's Next Top Model" and star of "My Fair Brady," Adrianne Curry.

So are models too skinny?

ADRIANNE CURRY, "AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL" WINNER: Yes, models are way too thin. And it is funny coming from someone like me, simply because I'm thin, too. But in the fashion world, I am considered overweight.

GIBSON: How tall are you and how much do you weigh?

CURRY: I am 5'10 1/2 and I am 134 pounds.

GIBSON: If you were a proper model, at that height you would weigh what?

CURRY: Probably about 118 to about 124 pounds, which I think is bordering looking like a starving Ethiopian. It is getting to the point of too much.

GIBSON: Who is demanding this of the models?

CURRY: Well, it is not the public that is demanding it from the models. Everyone I know of that looks at fashion magazines are disgusted by what they see. This is purely the fashion community.

GIBSON: Why? I know clothes look better on someone who is thinner than somebody who is fat. But someone whose bones are sticking out or hip bone are showing or whose arms just look like the bones covered by skin, how is that helping the fashion industry?

CURRY: You know what? I wish I could answer that for you but I cannot. I have heard people use the excuse, the only reason these women look this skinny is because they're young. Well, if that is the problem, then we should no longer use children and trying to show them off as full-grown women.

Just as any other industry with underage people in it, this industry should be regulated, too. It is one of the last industries that exploits children and it is not regulated. And that's why these problems are happening.

These are really impressionable young girls who are told they're overweight when they are not and go to drastic measure to lose the weight. And I've lived in models' apartments and let me tell you, I have seen some really ugly stories.

GIBSON: Give me one. What is it they're doing?

CURRY: I have witnessed girls who are bulimic, girls who are anorexic, girls that are too young to take pressure and they're so insecure about everything that they will follow any trend that they can in order to work. And it is ridiculous. Like, I sit there eating my hamburger feeling guilty in front of them because they look at me like a starving puppy in a cage who hasn't eaten in a few months.

GIBSON: When they sort of leave that particular atmosphere and they have a hamburger, do they return to normal health? Or is this something that you think is causing them permanent problems?

CURRY: This is causing long-term health problem. It doesn't take a genius to read up on what bulimia and anorexia does to you. If being skinny is not achieved through proper diet and proper workout, you are permanently damaging your body. It may come to the point where you can't have children because of it. It damages your insides.

GIBSON: A lot of women resent these skinny models. You are self- describe skinny. Do you?

CURRY: I don't resent them. I feel horrible for them. Ten, 15 pounds on them, they're still really, really thin, but they look better. And they're better role models for people. I for one am tired of picking up fashion magazines and being told what is beautiful and when I look at it, I'm disgusted by it. I don't think...

GIBSON: Adrianne Curry, winner of "America's Next Top Model" and star of "My Fair Brady." Appreciate it, Adrianne, thanks.

Content and Programming Copyright 2006 FOX News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2006 Voxant, Inc. (www.voxant.com), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon FOX News Network, LLC'S and Voxant, Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.