Traveling the world as a high-fashion model, Jennifer Strickland lived the life millions of girls only dream of. On the surface, she had it all: glamour, money and adoration. In Strickland’s new book, Girl Perfect (Excel Books), released September 2008 and available at most online bookstores, she reveals a very different story.

Taking the reader behind the scenes of life as a top model, Strickland describes how pursuing perfection almost destroyed her. Written primarily for the next generation, she addresses chief issues that young women face as they seek perfection in today’s world.

Damaged and disillusioned, Jennifer walked away from the cameras 13 years ago. Now, at 36, she’s a wife and mother living in Lake Arrowhead, California. Having earned an M.A. in writing and literature, she’s an author and popular speaker with a passion to reach out to women and girls grappling with issues of self-image and inspire them to seek a more lasting beauty.

Modeling from the age of eight, by 17 Strickland was working all over Europe. Hired by top agencies such as Nina Blanchard and Ford New York, she went on to work for Giorgio Armani on the runways of Milan. Being a runway model for a top designer was a notable success, but there was a high price to pay to stay at the top.

“I thought modeling was my ticket to freedom. I went to 35 countries in five years. It was exciting at first, but the deeper I got into the business the more I saw the deceit and the lies,” explains Strickland.

As Jennifer’s career skyrocketed, so did the frantic pace. Each day found her in a different studio or a different country, constantly being made up to be a different person. Even as her smiling face graced the cover of chic magazines, the girl inside was anything but happy.

“It looked perfect from the outside, but I never felt perfect. I never felt good enough,” she tells Living Light News. “It looked like I was living the dream, but I was miserable.” In an industry that puts a dollar value on beauty, Strickland was viewed as a commodity, and her worth was entirely based on her ability to meet the standards of the agents, designers and photographers.

“I was striving for perfect, but you never get there. Thin is never thin enough; good is never good enough,” she explains. While at the peak of her career, Strickland continually strove to meet the outrageous demands of the modeling industry. “I went to the height of being a runway model for Giorgio Armani, a Calvin Klein model and Vogue cover model. I saw the other models torturing themselves to be thin and still not being thin enough. I did it too, living on pears and carrots I became bone thin and only then was acceptable.

“When I gained four pounds, suddenly I wasn’t acceptable. I eventually got too thin, my hair started falling out and I had terrible acne. Once my body started to break down from anorexia, they were just done with me.”

As beautiful as she was, Jennifer struggled with feeling ugly, unworthy and unwanted. Attempting to fill the emptiness inside, she turned to drugs and alcohol, as well as seeking love and approval from men. Fending off men was a constant battle. One of those battles, sadly, resulted in rape.

“I was doing drugs and drinking, I was extremely lonely and I was looking for a way out. But that just led me down even deeper tunnels of depression and sadness. Finally, in desperation, I attempted suicide. I tried to drown myself,” Strickland confides. The day after Jennifer’s lowest point of trying to take her own life, she met some people in a nearby park who were handing out Bibles. They talked with her and invited her to their church. These strangers were kind, loving and joyful — everything Jennifer wanted — and most importantly, they offered hope.

Jennifer realized that God saw her and had a better plan for her life. “In the pages of God’s word, I found the true meaning of love and discovered the security that comes from being a child of God,” she says. “When I found the love of God, it filled that longing in my heart. He loved me beyond my outward appearance.” Strickland finally found her true identity and perfect acceptance in God’s love for her.

“I know what it is to live in darkness and I know what it is to live in the light,” she explains. “God says all you have to do is believe in Him and believe that He gave His Son for you. That’s all it takes — faith. We don’t have to become perfect first.

“When I asked Jesus to come into my life, I was a complete mess. He’s the one that cleaned me up, and I’m still sometimes a mess — yet I know He loves me, and it’s enough that I love Him back. I don’t have to be perfect to be loved by Him.”

Having received the ultimate makeover — transformed from the inside out — Jennifer has been delivered from despair and turmoil to a new life with a new focus. “I have a wonderful family now, my body is healed from anorexia, I’m healed from drug abuse. I’m free — really, truly free! Free from perfect and that whole striving for perfection.” With the illusion of perfection shattered, Strickland has found purpose in helping others discover the same freedom.

“I feel compelled to reach young women and tell them, ‘You are so much more than your body, you’re so much more than what you look like. You are a beautiful daughter of God. Your value doesn’t have anything to do with your sexuality, clear skin or your body size. You are a creation of God and you are beautiful because of that, period.’ ”

Strickland speaks with the radiant joy of a woman liberated from the deception of the world’s standards of perfection. “I think true freedom is turning and looking at God and knowing that He’s the only perfect. If we reflect His image in the world, that’s good enough for Him, it’s beautiful to Him. We can be satisfied and complete in that.”

photo courtesy Jennifer Strickland