VECKO REVYN (Margareta Hall)

An ex-model’s confessions

Men hang around in clusters. The photographer tells her she looks like a bitch. The agent-lady says she must go on a diet. Rape and violent abuse. The tough existence of a teenage model is depicted in Maria Theresia Lynch’s autobiographical debut novel “Fragments Of Me” (Schultz). On the book’s back sleeve she's pictured in the back seat of an old Volvo. On the front an almost identical blond, photographed by Theresia. Today she stands behind the camera. In the past she stood in front of it, like Celine in the novel.

Theresia Lynch is tall, thin, model-striking; in black leather blazer and a Hermes silk scarf casually tied around her neck. She was born in Stockholm, but now live and works in London. She has had her photographic work exhibited, as well as published in various English and Swedish magazines. When I ask her if she still does any modelling, she gives me a horrified glare. Is the life of a model as severe as in the book?

For the young ones… It’s easy to be exposed and exploited when you’re inexperienced, she says. You’re very slender, but the agencies still tried to push you to lose weight? Well yes… It’s so funny when people in the business constantly try to deny those issues. To be model thin – you can’t eat a lot period. Personally I used to live of coffee and cigarettes. I like being thin, but I want to be fit and strong as well. Unfortunately agencies like their girls to be borderline anorexic. Most models I’ve known have had a rather complex relationship with food. Eating disorders are in my experience more the rule than the exception. But naturally some people are naturally skinny and model agents seek those individuals out. The problem is that they might fit the bill when they’re 14, but may no longer possess the required physic by the time they’re 19. And that can be both mentally destructive as well as physically detrimental.

You also write about drug taking and prostitution going on behind the scene.

Yes, that occurs occasionally. That’s not really a revelation; I just illustrated what I was surrounded by.

Love is the novel’s second theme. Celine deceives and is deceived. Maybe she has found herself by the end of the story? She moves around the young, famous and successful. Who is the gorgeous actor Richard? Theresia just smiles secretly. 

Celine is very passionate and takes life very seriously, but isn’t she just a melodramatic teenager?

I think we are just as serious in adolescence as we are later on. I think it’s ridiculous to reduce a young persons feelings and emotions just because of their age. This is the time when we’re moulded and become who we are. We should embrace and draw experience from all stages of our journey. If we refute any of them, we might end up making the same mistakes again and again. I take everyone equally seriously; a small child, a teenager, an adult. In my eyes we are all entitled to the same amount of respect. We all have something to contribute and we’re all just as important. Many young women encounter an appalling amount of afflictions and are expected to deal with them indisputably. I wanted to write a novel that brought up some of those topics in an empathetic and non-judgemental way.

The next book?
I’m working on it. It will be completely different.