I read "Thing of Beauty." Amazingly it was very dull, despite the incredible story it told: trashy little lesbian street becomes a top model and then sytematically destroys her with drugs, eventually dying of AIDS. Fried's writing is uninspiring and his depictions of Gia and her family and lovers and acquaintances have no depth.
Her most important lover was a white trash druggie/criminal from a well-to-do family: Elyssa Golden. Fried was for some reason protective of Golden; in the book he gives her the name "Rochelle Rosen" and in the epilogue at the end says that she is HIV-negative but has liver cancer. In reality, Golden DID have AIDS (did Gia contract it from HER?) and went on to die of it.
Photographer and personal friend Francesco Scavullo was asked what he thought was the cause of Gia’s death. Taking a moment to think, Scavullo answered, “Lack of love. ”