If you think the glittering world of modeling is all about fabulous parties, endless compliments, and an easy life, think again. Victoire Maçon-Dauxerre’s story is the cold, biting apple of reality that the fashion industry doesn’t want you to taste. Spoiler: it’s far from sweet.
From Street Discovery to Runway Star: The Unseen Cost
At just 18 years old, Victoire Maçon-Dauxerre became one of the world’s most in-demand models. Plucked from the street by a scout from Elite, she quickly became a podium star. Swapping her ordinary life for photo shoots and runway shows, she entered a dazzling universe—at least on the surface.
Behind the scenes, her reality was grim. Daily life became an “infernal spiral” where the constant pressure to fit the industry’s harshest demands drove her to the brink. The price of beauty? A brush with death after a suicide attempt.
Three Apples a Day: The Truth Behind the Glamour
In 2016, Victoire published her brutally honest book, « Jamais Trop Maigre. Journal d’un Top Model ». In its pages, she lays bare a relentless routine. Her daily diet? Three apples. That’s right—just three pieces of fruit and, if she was lucky, a bit of fish or chicken once a week. She adhered to this punishing regime to squeeze herself into size 32-34 clothes.
- Three apples per day
- Fish and chicken only once weekly
- Lost around ten kilos in two months
But as the weight dropped, her reflection became warped: “The thinner I got, the fatter I felt,” she confessed. Consequences were swift and cruel: mental anorexia, emotional distress, constant anxiety, and gnawing fear that if she ever stopped, she wouldn’t fit into those coveted clothes again. “My anxiety expressed itself through food and I imposed those three apples on myself while telling myself I’d return to a normal diet later. But a voice in my head stopped me, and I was always afraid I wouldn’t fit into the clothes,” she admitted to Vanity Fair.
At 1.78m tall, her weight fell below 47 kilos. Gone was the glossy idea of glamour—replaced by a young woman who described herself as nothing more than a coat hanger. The day her mother saw her naked in the bathroom, panic struck: her daughter was skeletal. “She saw I was starving. She brought me a roast chicken, and I devoured the whole thing,” Victoire recalled on ‘Sept à Huit’.
Broken Mirrors: Beauty, Value, and the Vicious Cycle
Modeling left lasting scars. Victoire’s self-worth became tied exclusively to thinness: “I was wanted, sure, but thin. I was beautiful because I was thin. That was my only value.” Anorexia, she wrote, is a vicious circle. The irony? While the industry demanded she lose more weight, her photos were digitally altered—extra thighs and cheeks added after the fact.
After quitting modeling, the battle wasn’t over. She fell into bulimia, slid into depression, and again faced a suicide attempt, which ended with a stay in a psychiatric clinic. Fashion’s casualties are all too real—and rarely spoken about openly.
Rebuilding: From Darkness to New Stages
Today, healing has become Victoire’s new daily special. Once recovered, she embraced acting, resuming studies in London before gracing the stage at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. “Seeing people on stage made me want to go myself. Later, I went to drama school and it was therapeutic. I reconnected my body and my mind,” she told Vanity Fair.
Now, she stars as Vanessa, chef at Spoon, in the TV series « Demain nous appartient » on TF1. She has also become an advocate, fighting against the cult of thinness and working with organizations like Imhotep and the Ateliers Mercure think tank to pursue healthier policies.
Not one to shy away from her past, she’s also co-producing the film adaptation of her book—working alongside the producers of « Vikings, » and will play a secondary role (but not herself). Just in case you thought the story ended in despair: Victoire is writing a new ending, full of hope, for both her life and for others walking the same brittle path.
Reality check: True beauty can’t be measured by the number on a scale, nor scroll-stopping images retouched beyond recognition. If Victoire’s journey teaches us anything, it’s that life—and happiness—are never found in starving yourself for someone else’s idea of perfection.
John Smith is a culinary enthusiast and food blogger who discovered his love for Asian cuisine during his years living in Seoul and Tokyo. With a background in journalism, he brings a storytelling approach to exploring the cultural significance behind every dish. John is passionate about making Asian cooking accessible to home cooks and sharing the vibrant food scenes he encounters in his travels.
