Page Six Magazine posted a rather sad feature article yesterday on the professional demise of supermodel Gemma Ward.

The article talked about how the once-super model actually went through puberty (for shame!), her body filling out, and was basically black-listed from the industry.

Ward, whose face was perhaps the most memorable of the “doll faces,” a modeling moment that also included Jessica Stam, was linked to fellow Aussie Heath Ledger before his death, and according to Forbes magazine, raked in $3 million in 2007.

But by Fall 2007, the buzz about her weight gain had gone full-tilt:

“Says one fashion editor who attended Paris fashion week in October of that year, ‘Gemma was only walking in a handful of shows—Lagerfeld Gallery, maybe Valentino. I initially thought, ‘She doesn’t have to do them, she’s making so much money in the big campaigns,’ until I saw her on the [Chanel] runway… I almost didn’t recognize her,’ says the editor, who confesses she was aghast. Compared to the other ultraskinny models, Ward looked as if she had gained 10 to 15 pounds, ‘big, almost bloated.’”

Aghast? The story is harsh, but actually pretty typical. Models who start at 12, 13, 14 years old (as Gemma did) often have yet to actually go through puberty, navigating all the curves and flesh that come with it.

When it comes, for some, it’s curtains for their careers. But for some reason, it’s rare to see girls who’ve made it as far as Ward (huge ad campaigns, multiple Vogue covers before her 17th birthday) actually succumb to nature’s demands  — which leads everyone with brains to wonder what others models do to maintain malnutrition-level weights in the face of impending womanhood.

Gemma Ward, before and after. Photos courtesy of Page Six.