‘If you leave now you’re finished,’ was what a photographer told Leah Darrow… but for her it was just the beginning of something amazing

 

Having appeared on reality show America’s Next Top Model, Leah Darrow was destined for greatness. But one photoshoot didn’t go according to plan and her life turned around completely, as James Hastings discovered

There was a time when the photographer’s words would have crushed Leah Darrow. In panic and fear, the young model would have begged for another chance.

She’d do anything to change his mind. She’d cry, offer to go for a drink, or to his place for a coffee.

As she gathered the last of her clothes and opened the studio door, the photographer repeated his threat: “If you leave now, you’re finished. You’ll be a nobody, Leah.”

Looking round, Leah spoke calmly, more in relief than sarcasm: “Do you promise?”

Moments later, Leah Darrow was half-walking, half-running down New York’s 5th Avenue, her tears ruining her perfectly applied make-up.

“People stared at me like I was some sort of mad woman,” she smiles.

“I didn’t blame them. On the outside, I looked a mess, my mascara running down my face. Inside, my emotions were in turmoil. In an instant, I’d walked out on a successful modelling career which I’d been painstakingly building, a career I’d sacrificed everything for.

“Part of me was overjoyed I’d quit, but part of me was suddenly hit by practicalities. I was earning big money as a model.‘’How would I pay my bills and my rent now? How would I eat? What else could I do? Modelling was all I knew.”

Read how the life-changing vision in that photoshoot has transformed Leah’s life in the May issue of iBelieve

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