Crystal Renn stressed by modelling career

The Hungarian model Crystal Renn used to rely on a prayer book to plan her future after she first moved to New York from Hungary at the young age of 16, to pursue her modelling career.

However, the stress of the industry resulted in her battling anorexia and Crystal found herself scared of what would happen next, which caused her to destroy the book.

She told Stylist magazine: "When I first moved into a model apartment, it was so loud with the girls laughing and chatting all the time. I actually started a prayer book about what I wanted to accomplish, how I saw my life.

"I got so upset once that I burned it. It was so stupid! Now I'm at a place where I'd never do that, but I was so disturbed by what I was writing about that I freaked out and didn't want to own it. I was really sick then. When I was getting better, I realised, 'This is not me.' "

While Crystal - who has modelled for brands including Chanel, Jimmy Choo and Dolce & Gabbana - struggled to overcome her illness, she is glad her recovery helped people "connect" with her and look to her as a role model.

She added: "I'm just glad my experiences have been able to touch some people. These are issues find very difficult to talk about, and it was like therapy.

"I'm a soul and have a back history. The eating thing is not the be all and end all. I'm not always thinking about my weight, but I do think me experiences make it easy for people to connect to me, and I want them to.

"I had a dream and a goal, and people laughed at me when I told them, 'I'm going to be healthy and be a supermodel anyway.' They were like, 'Yeah sweetheart, sure you will.' "