Kim Alexis Tells All: Cocaine, Studio 54 Overdoses and the Real '80s Modeling World

Kim Alexis was one of the defining faces of the’80s, covering Sports Illustrated, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Self and Cosmopolitan. In a new interview, she’s sharing what those glossy years actually looked like behind the scenes, and it’s a lot heavier than the magazine spreads suggested. Alexis says she used cocaine for a period because she never felt thin enough, a pressure she now describes openly. She quit, and eventually channeled that energy into running eight marathons.

She also recounted the Studio 54 era, a club she tried to avoid but was pushed toward by friends who wanted the door access her fame provided. Inside, she says she witnessed celebrities overdosing and zoning out, and she remembers it as scary and sad. She credits an innate defensive energy with keeping unwanted advances from escalating throughout her career, and she stepped away from modeling in her twenties.

These days, the 66-year-old hosts the“Unexpired”podcast, where reinvention and honesty are the whole point. Her story lands differently now, in an era where we’re constantly reappraising the pop culture we grew up romanticizing. What’s a part of pop culture history you wish more people told the truth about? Tell us in the comments.