Supermodel's Daughter Weighed in at 330 Pounds

Being the daughter of a supermodel can't be easy—but how about being the 330-pound daughter of a supermodel? Zulekha Haywood, whose mother is Iman (and father is NBA legend Spencer Haywood), recounts her obesity battle in a lengthy piece in Glamour. The now 165-pound 31-year-old, who has "more or less been on a diet since I was eight," writes that "my mother would whisper basta (“enough” in Italian) when I was in danger of overeating. I usually put down the fork. But I also got hip to late-night snacking. In the end, all I learned from basta was how to make PB&J in the dark."

Zulekha tried to live "joyfully and without apology," and "largely succeeded." But she still tried everything from diet pills to the Master Cleanse, and with a "soul-crushing" BMI of 46, she opted for gastric bypass. A year later she was a size 6. "Now when I walk into a room, guys really pay attention. But the sad fact is that volume hasn’t improved the quality. Perhaps it’s just this kind of attention that has given me a deeper appreciation for my mother’s beauty. What people respond to is her grace and elegance, her independent thinking and charity for others." A woman’s worth, she writes, "can never be found on a scale." (More Zulekha Haywood stories.)