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.