*Fashion model and journalist Gail O’Neill has died at age 61.
As Urban Hollywood 411 reports, O’Neill was found dead in her home in Atlanta on Oct. 10. No cause of death has been confirmed. However, according to ArtsATL — where she served as editor-at-large, the New York native “courageously fought a serious illness over the past two years.”
O’Neill is survived by her husband Paul E. Viera, her mother Elaine, sister Denise, and brother Randy, per Urban Hollywood 411. The late fashionista and news reporter was at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York in 1985 when she was discovered by photographer Chuck Baker and his stylist wife Martha, per THR. At the time, the Wesleyan University graduate was working in marketing and sales at Xerox. By the following year, she was on the cover of British Vogue.
“By the time I was 11 or 12 years old, I was convinced that my tall, skinny frame was some kind of cosmic joke…with me as the punchline,” O’Neill said in a 2013 Q&A panel with the American Museum of Natural History.
One of my favorite supermodels of the 80s/90s 🕊🙏🕊🙏
Remembering Gail O’Neill former iconic fashion model and trailblazer who later became a television journalist.
Gail was considered one of the elite black models in the world in the 80s and 90s.
Establishing herself as… pic.twitter.com/EcCzuKoMzb
— Aja Smith (@AjaforCongress) October 14, 2023
Throughout her career, she modeled for brands such as Coca-Cola, Esprit, Avon, J. Crew, Donna Karan, Perry Ellis, Willi Smith, Calvin Klein and Nordstrom, according to THR. O’Neill also worked with famous photographers, including Annie Leibovitz, Arthur Elgort, Gilles Bensimon, Steven Meisel, Albert Watson, Fabrizio Ferri, Alex Chatelain, and Patrick Demarchelier.
She covered American and Italian Vogue, Mademoiselle, Elle, Glamour, and Essence, and featured on Sports Illustrated‘s swimsuit issue.
“People just loved her,” O’Neill’s agent Stephanie Grill told WWD.
“They would re-book her and re-book her. She was a major beauty with this beautiful personality – so authentic and kind. And she really had so much integrity. She would have had five or six jobs a day if she could. She had so many options. Everybody wanted to work with Gail O’Neill.”
READ MORE: Apple TV+ Drops Trailer for ‘The Super Models’ Docuseries | Watch
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