Janice Dickinson

Janice Dickinson born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Ray Dickinson of Belorussian descent and Jennie Pietrzykoski, who is of Polish, Irish and Japanese ancestry ,she mentions her Japanese ancestry in her book No Lifeguard On Duty. She moved with her parents to Hollywood, Florida in 1957.

When Janice met with a modeling agent named Jacques Silverstein, her portfolio consisted of four very bad photographs. Expecting yet another rejection, it was only when Silverstein's pretty teenage girlfriend expressed an interest did he change his mind. The young girlfriend's name? Future Oscar nominee and 'Soprano' star Lorraine Bracco. Janice had finally found someone who believed in her.

Now it was off to Paris for Janice and what a wirl wind!! Little did she know she would become famous. She immediately met Peter Knapp, the art director for French Vogue who loved her look. Within four months she was on the covers of five European magazines. A year of nonstop work followed. Covers, runway shows and more covers. Work was her new drug and it too was meeting her at the airport. She did gigs in China, Thailand and Japan.

In 1978, Dickinson returned to New York with a portfolio as thick as a phonebook and everyone around town asking who the stunning new "import" was. The people who slammed doors in her face were now the same ones flooding with calls for meetings. Many had no recollection of any previous encounter. True revenge is sweet success!! She made a point of taking meetings with the people who were the meanest to her. Having the position of power was new for her. The meanest of all the photographers in her New York days was a man named Michael Reinhardt. Janice, with her distorted view of men as it was, began to see Reinhardt romantically and the two remained an item for two years. Reinhardt's influence as a photographer catapulted Janice's career to a new level. Janice Dickinson was now a household name.

Being a leggy young supermodel in the late seventies demands a social life that compliments the job. Janice became a fixture at Studio 54 along with Andy Warhol and Truman Capote. Janice's new best friend became a young model on the rise named Gia Carangi and the two were inseparable. An A-list of the biggest stars would summon over waiters asking who the tall girl with the bee-stung lips was. The stories at Studio 54 ran rampant.

If the road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom, then Janice was on her way to becoming very wise. All the biggest designers clawed to get her in their runway shows. But unlike the old days, the world was starting to come to Janice as well. To the young Florida girl, the attention of handsome, older movie stars who were often symbols of an escape from her abusive father, fed into her deepest needs for acceptance. An affair with Warren Beatty took place while he was editing 'Reds'. Jack Nicholson came calling (Janice claimed) and later Mick Jagger. Dickinson toured with the Rolling Stones, and became fast friends with Patti Hansen and husband Keith Richards. Life experiences were building up faster than her Paris portfolio.

1983 was a big year for Dickinson. The high point of her career. The ethnic look was not as taboo as it once was and Janice took advantage of the new open mindedness. She and Gia Caragi traveled the world, both as models and friends, and then her world was again shaken by Gia's death which was a drug overdose in 1984.

The fashion business was getting bigger than ever and an agent named John Casablanca wanted to start his own agency. He officially started The "Model Wars"...Janice, who was only one of the bigger name models not bound by a written contract, was one of Casablanca's first recruits. Janice started Elite Models with Stephanie Seymour, Iman and Andie MacDowell and the agency is to this day, The one every young model dreams of being part of. Elite also transformed the industry with it's ability to get work for all types of girls. The "ethnic look" was now in, and it wouldn't be long before girls with unconventional good looks like Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss would not just succeed, but thrive. And for the notorious playboy Casablanca, being the head of a hot modeling agency had its benefits. Elite became its very own soap opera.

The life of a young supermodel is exciting and fast. But hopping nightclubs and fashion runways does not always permit a girl to better herself. Feeling uncultured and an emptiness that could Not be filled with money, drugs, alcohol or sex, Dickinson picked up and moved to Italy. There, her celebrity as a model got her into "the party" with the likes of Princes and Contessas. Everywhere she looked was an eyeful of culture and she soon developed an interest in photography to record all the wonders around her. She began a two year long affair with a dashing man named Francesco. While working throughout Europe and enjoying all Italy had to offer, Janice came to the realization that all successful young people must come to. How do I balance career and still achieve something more? For Janice, this posed even more of a problem, with all of her partying, travelling and success, she was still missing a spiritual side to her life that she desperately needed. She wanted the nurturing family life she had only seen on television and in movies. One that was denied to her in her own childhood. All the spiritual growth she was seeking would have to be put on hold. She said goodbye to Francesco and left for Hollywood, Califorinia.

By the late 1980's the word "Supermodel" was now clearly cemented in the popular culture and Elite was practically a household word. While Janice was put out in Los Angeles, trying to start an acting career- going to auditions and acting classes like so many others, the supermodel culture was moving to another level. Women of all types of ethnicities were making astronomical sums of money. Models like Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington were making tens of millions of dollars per year. "Bee stung lips" were coveted by women around the world. Collagen injections were right up there with breast implants and liposuction as the most popular plastic surgery procedures.

While in LA, Dickinson married a young producer named Simon Fields, who would have success with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. Together, they produced Dickinson's first child, Nathan. She was finally beginning to find the happy medium between work and family. Fields' success would allow Dickinson some breathing room to pursue acting and raise Nathan.

Janice kept her ties to friends in the modeling world. Every so often, a modeling job would come her way. But the catty world of modeling was getting younger and younger and models like Dickinson were getting passed over. The younger models were getting lucrative contracts unlike anything the older women had ever seen. Janice understood that in the modeling world, aging is a sin.

Dickinson's marriage to Fields ended in 1993 and the rejection was becoming as harsh as it was in the 70's. The acting career had not taken off and the options for a model in her thirties were slim. Daughter Savannah was born in 1993.

The arrival of Savannah had given Dickinson a new outlook on life. She sobered up and married Albert Gerston. She was ready to straighten up her life and raise Savannah. But Gerston had brought some of his own problems into the marriage, including drugs. One night, while vacationing in St. Bart's, a very high Gerston driving with Janice, drove his car off a cliff. Dickinson spent four months in bed recovering from the accident, and to help ease her pain, she turned back to alcohol. She divorced Gerston and took baby Savannah back to Los Angeles.

What happens to a model who becomes less and less useful to a youth obsessed culture? The girls dominating the magazine covers today were not even born when Studio 54 was it. For Janice, her interest in photography, along with all her experience and continued ties to the business led to a natural progression to go behind the camera. She soon became adept at finding the best in aspiring young models and started her own business as a photographer. The irony was not lost on her. Would any of these young girls be prepared for the kind of life that lay ahead? Would they be able to handle it? Would they end up like her good friend Gia Carangi, or survive like her with a million stories to tell?

After years and years of rollercoasters of every type, Dickinson was no longer living a life for herself. She now had Nathan and Savannah to live for. Nathan's father, Simon Fields, would produce several more movies. His most recent production, Town and Country, ironically enough stars Warren Beatty. But what about Savannah, who was turning into a beautiful young girl herself and asking about her own father? Moments like these make a person look inward. They force one to take stock. Dickinson seemed to have more stock than five people combined. She had lived and continues to live a life full of lessons, some learned and some ignored. It's a continuing struggle, but one with plenty of perspective.

She has been divorced three times. Her former husbands are Ron Levy, Alan B. Gersten, and Simon Fields, by whom she has a son, Nathan Fields. She has a daughter, Savannah Dickinson, by former boyfriend producer Michael Birnbaum. A paternity test proved that the father was not Sylvester Stallone, as she had thought. In her books and in interviews, she has also discussed her numerous sexual relationships with male and female celebrities[3]. She has most recently been romantically linked with Jon Lovitz, but has asked Simon Cowell to dump his girlfriend, Terri Seymour, for her.

Her past lovers include Warren Beatty, Sir Mick Jagger, Jack Nicholson and Liam Neeson Janis Dickenson yanis, yanise, janise, janes, janese, dickenson, dickson, dickingson, kickenson.

Hate or Love her She is Successful,she is Hot,and she doesnt care what the world says about her but she will tell you like it is, she'd rather be an honest bitch with you than some a*s-kissing, sugar-coating,namby-pamby, wiping-a*s motherf***er and that's why I LOVE JANICE DICKINSON!!!!