Adwoa Aboah Bares It All for Allure Magazine’s Skin Issue

In the story, titled Age of Aboah, the model talks about her struggles with drug addiction and depression — she attempted suicide in 2015, the same year she landed her first Vogue cover — as well as her female-empowerment nonprofit Gurls Talk and social-media-induced jealousy.

Read the excerpts from the feature:

On thinking she couldn’t be a model: There were certain friends of my mom and dad’s who said I could model, blah, blah, blah, but I was insecure…. I don’t think I was confident enough, and I don’t think there was a space within the industry for somebody who looked like me. I worked; I did odd jobs. There were times I had money and times I didn’t. It was up and down.

On social media being potentially toxic: It’s mental. It’s detrimental to everyone. Who is more successful, or rich, or beautiful— you’ll always be able to pick it out. Why didn’t I go to that party? You didn’t want to go in the first place. I try not to spend a lot of time on it.

On how her struggles with addiction inspired her to create Gurls Talk: If I had somewhere I felt safe enough to talk about the things going on in my life, whether they be small or big, I don’t think I would have bottled up everything so much and had it fall to pieces during 2014.

Read the full feature on www.allure.com.

Credits
Photography: @studio_jackson
Fashion: @bethfenton_
Makeup: @hannah_murray1
Hair: @estherlangham
Manicure: @honeynailz
Set Design: @peterkleindesign