Simone Holtznagel: Heartbreaking backstory behind the surprising name of model’s baby daughter is revealed
Simone Holtznagel has revealed the unlikely fashion icon who inspired her newborn daughter’s name.
The reality star model and her personal trainer boyfriend Jono Castano surprised those closest to them when they named their daughter Gia last month.
Many assumed the couple would choose to name their daughter Charlotte, in memory of Australian Next Top Model judge Charlotte Dawson – a close friend and mentor who died in 2014.
Instead, the couple says 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 Vogue US August 1980
Struggling with her meteoric rise, she turned to heroin and battled addiction for several years.
In December 1985 she was diagnosed with AIDS and died the following year.
Carangi’s tragic life played out on screen twelve years after her death, with a young Angelina Jolie taking on the role of the troubled model in the 1998 film Gia.
Jolie’s moving performance won her a Golden Globe alongside Hollywood heavyweights Faye Dunaway, who played modeling mogul Wilhelmina Cooper, and Mercedes Ruehl, who played her mother Kathleen.
Mila Kunis also appeared as a younger version of Carangi, in one of her very first film roles.
The tortured model was one of the first openly gay fashion icons, often frequenting DCA, a gay club in the city where she met Sharon Beverley, one of her first long-term partners.
Considered by many to be the first supermodel, Gia Carangi was only 26 when she died of AIDS-related complications in 1986.
New mom Simone Holtznagel said her newborn daughter’s name is a nod to supermodel Gia Carangi
Simone (left) is pictured next to her late friend and mentor Charlotte Dawson (right)
Angelina Jolie played the role of Gia Carangi in the 1998 hit film Gia
Although Gia also had a few dates with men, she identified as a lesbian.
Holznagel said the couple has not ruled out naming their next child after her late mentor Charlotte Dawson.
“Lottie was on our shortlist, so if we have another baby, that could be that,” she told Stellar magazine.
‘After Charlotte died I had a lot of her clothes, including this Camilla kaftan.
‘My mother’s best friend cut it up and made a baby blanket out of it. She gave it to me at my baby shower and I cried with tears in my eyes, so that’s super special.”