Simone Holtznagel has revealed the unlikely late fashion icon who inspired her newborn daughter’s name.
The reality star model and her boyfriend, personal trainer Jono Castaño, surprised those close to them when they named their daughter Gia last month.
Many assumed the couple would choose to name their daughter Charlotte in memory of Australia’s Next Top Model judge Charlotte Dawson, a great friend and mentor who died in 2014.
Instead, the couple say Gia is a nod to supermodel Gia Carangi, who tragically died of AIDS in 1986.
Carangi became one of fashion’s most sought-after models and a fixture at the legendary Studio 54 nightclub after moving to New York in 1977, but her life quickly fell apart.
Simone Holtznagel (right) welcomed her first child with her personal trainer boyfriend, Jono Castano (left)
Gia Carangi photographed on the cover of US Vogue August 1980
Struggling to cope with his meteoric rise, he turned to heroin and battled addiction for several years.
In December 1985 she was diagnosed with AIDS and the following year she died, becoming one of the first famous women to die from the disease.
Carangi’s tragic life unfolded on screen 12 years after her death, with a young Angelina Jolie taking on the role of the troubled model.
Jolie’s moving performance earned her a Golden Globe for appearing alongside Hollywood heavyweights Faye Dunaway, who played modeling mogul Wilhelmina Cooper, and Mercedes Ruehl, who played her mother, Kathleen.
Mila Kunis also appeared in the 1998 film, Gia, as a younger version of Carangi, in one of her first film roles, alongside Angelina Jolie.
The tortured model was one of the first openly gay fashion icons, frequently visiting DCA, a gay club in the city where she met one of her first long-term partners: Sharon Beverley.
Considered by many to be the first supermodel, Gia Carangi was just 26 years old when she died from AIDS-related complications in 1986.
New mom Simone Holtznagel said her newborn daughter’s name is a nod to supermodel Gia Carangi
Simone (left) appears with her late friend and mentor Charlotte Dawson (right)
Angelina Jolie played Gia Carangi in the hit film Gia in 1998.
Although Gia also went on a few dates with men, she identified as a lesbian.
In the film, one of her friends asks her if she has ever had sex with a man. The model responds: ‘Yes, once. And she could have done it with a German Shepherd.
Holznagel said the couple has not ruled out naming their next child after their late mentor Charlotte Dawson.
“Lottie was on our short list, so if we have another baby, it could be that one,” she told Stellar magazine.
‘After Charlotte passed away, I had a lot of her clothes, including this kaftan of Camilla’s.
‘My mother’s best friend cut it up and made it into a baby blanket for me. “She gave it to me at my baby shower and I cried my eyes out, so it’s super special.”
