22 Years After 'America's Next Top Model': Where Is Adrianne Curry Now?

From the catwalk to the quiet life, Adrianne Curry, winner of the very first "America's Next Top Model," traded reality TV fame for peace and a simpler life.

After a variety of modeling gigs and reality shows, she stepped away from the spotlight and now lives a secluded, off-the-grid life, selling Avon and embracing simplicity with her husband of 10 years, two cats, and dog.

On the 22nd anniversary of the day “America’s Next Top Model” first episode debuted, Curry sat down with The Blast to talk about her past in Hollywood, what led her to living a quieter existence in Montana, and everything in between. 

Side note: Curry is one of the most fun people to talk to and an open book, so our conversation covered lots of interesting ground. What you see is what you get with her; she’s as real as they come. 

“ANTM” became a touchstone for early 2000s reality TV, influencing fashion and pop culture. The first season debuted on May 20, 2003. The show ran 24 seasons and launched the modeling careers of several contestants, including the first season’s winner, Curry. 

But not everything is as it seems. Promises were made and not kept, and a lot of sacrifices were made during the competition and after. Curry shared that while she’s so grateful for what the show did for her career and life, there were some things behind the scenes viewers probably had no idea about.

Her start in modeling happened because of her mom. 

“When I was younger, I think my mom wanted me to model more than me because she wanted me to have self-esteem because I was just a loser ugly kid growing up, but then bloomed into myself, but I wasn’t aware of it,” she told The Blast exclusively. “I went on the show after she saw a commercial. My audition tape I filmed, my parents were on the verge of divorce, in fact, they finalized their divorce the day I won ‘Top Model.’”

She said she wanted to win so she could “get the f-ck out of here” and wanted to help her family with money. 

To put things into perspective, this was a time when there really weren’t any competition shows on TV, so Curry wasn’t totally sure what she was getting herself into. “Survivor” and “American Idol” were the big competition shows on at that time, and in fact, Kelly Clarkson won “American Idol” the same year Curry won “Top Model.” 

Curry went into the competition thinking there was no way she was going to win. 

“I’m not very girly, for one. And at the time, I was basically your quintessential skeevy 1995 stoner, so why would they want me?” she explained. “So honestly, when they did pick me, I went into the entire thing knowing there was no way I could win because there’s no way someone like me would ever be able to get it.” 

She explained that, of all the moments in her life, winning the show was a feeling that tied with the moment her grandmother—who raised her—died in her arms, describing both as "out-of-body experiences filled with so much emotion that you don't even know if you're human anymore."

Curry thought for sure that she wouldn’t win so she had her elimination moment all played out in her head, locked and loaded for when the moment happened. 

“I rolled into that elimination totally prepared to lose and to be 100 percent about it, my entire thing that I chanted in my head over and over I’m not crying for these f-cking people, I’m not gonna cry like a little b-tch when I lose,” she shared. “I’m gonna be so cool about it, they’re not gonna know what hit them.” 

Just one problem with that scenario…it didn’t happen because she won. She said she had nothing prepared for that actually happening and said she nearly passed out.

When asked what she feels was the best and the worst part about being part of the show, she said the best is that she wouldn’t be where she is now without the show. The worst is that promises were broken.

“None of us would have fought that hard for what the prize actually was, which is like the title and a three-year contract with an agency that Tyra Banks p-ssed off in three months, so they f-ucking hated me. Yeah, it was not cute, but let’s just pretend that I got all this money and I was a Revlon Covergirl. My brain wasn’t done developing, so would I have just been another a-shole like the rest of these models? Probably. So in a way, maybe I’m grateful that didn’t happen.”

She explained it with an example of winning the lottery. 

“It’s like winning the lotto and they hand you the big check and everyone’s like look you won the lotto and there’s all the press and then when everyone leaves the room, you go to cash the check, and it bounces,” she explained. 

After “ANTM,” Curry went on to do a few other reality shows, but out of everything, she said she’s most proud of “Top Model.” 

Curry was on season 4 of “The Surreal Life,” which led to her meeting actor Christopher Knight from “The Brady Bunch.” The two ended up in a relationship and getting married, which spawned “My Fair Brady,” from 2005 to 2008. 

Curry said what you saw on the show was real when it came to her. And she had no problem sharing some things about reality TV that many may not realize.

“I probably was one of the few people that was real. Like, I woke up with no makeup with a f-cking camera in my face,” she said. “People don’t realize that every restaurant you see people go to, every bar they go to, these aren’t places they frequent. It’s like the only place that agreed for filming to happen and when you see someone walk in, it’s like the eighth take of them walking in.” 

Does Curry watch any reality shows now, years after starring in many? Nope. 

“I don’t watch any of it. I have like PTSD from reality. I’ve spent so many years decompressing from that narcissistic culture and trying to purge myself of all, I guess, unnecessary vanity, and narcissistic tendencies, because we all have them,” she said. “Everyone’s like, what’s with the rise of narcissism? I say it started with Jenny Jones, Ricki Lake, Jerry Springer, all these people were like, I could get famous for a second on TV, and then a bunch of a–holes like me rolled in and then people were like, I can actually have a TV show?”

Curry added, “I’m like, please forgive me because I know I contributed to the downfall of humanity.” 

At one point, Curry began working behind the scenes in post-production but struggled with the fact that she had to “be the devil” and “manipulate footage” to look a certain way. 

“I couldn’t do it. I had to drop out and I had great references. All these huge producers were like, you were great. I worked on ‘My Antonio,’ I think it was for VH1 for Antonio Sabato, Jr. and I was at the wrap party and one of the girls from the show came up to me, which, I was part of  making her look particularly bad in post, and she was like, oh they did me dirty but you understand, you know,” she explained.

“And I was just like, I am f-cking Satan. So I quit. I don’t want to hurt people.”

Curry has made no secret of why she decided to leave the Hollywood life behind. When asked what it was that made her leave it all behind, she said it was “a series of unfortunate events.” 

“Getting over my first marriage was rough, it was bad, because that was not fake for me and I don’t believe in divorce which is why I forced him to go file because I didn’t want that on my soul. I was really, really hurt and I got involved in someone else who hurt me again,” she said. “I remember my grandma, who raised me, she was dying of cancer, and I had to not do a show pitch and stay there because I knew she was going to die. And their reaction to me canceling this show pitch was like, how f-cking dare she, kind of thing.”

She said she held her grandmother as she died and she told her that she canceled the show pitch so she could stay with her. Her grandma told her she didn’t need to go back there.

“She was a good woman. She raised me, and it just stuck,” she continued. “I would say, she died January 2014, that seed was planted where I was like, I have to get the f-ck out of LA. I have to get out of here, I’m wasting my life and my soul.”

That year was very revealing to her. She also met her husband only two weeks after he arrived in LA. 

“I was asked to do a reality TV show with a big paycheck. But in the show, they wanted me to act like I was single and I just met this guy but had a feeling. I was like, I can’t act like I’m single on a show because I am not, and they were like, well this guy will understand. So I started turning sh-t down and my team was like are you crazy, because it was a big show and I’m like dude, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna marry this guy. But you know LA mentality.”

At 32, the industry wanted to “extend” Curry’s “sex symbol appeal” and she wasn’t down for it. 

The last thing she was offered was six figures to be a model for a company that does facial fillers. And while she said she needed the money, she ultimately turned the job down, but there was a hesitation there.

“That’s when I started to question if I was losing my soul. The thought that I would sit there and consider messing with my face for money,” Curry said. “And I was 32. To me, you’re still retaining your youth.”

Curry’s new non-Hollywood life meant finding a new passion to fill her time. Her new passion found her in a hilarious way. 

“Trying to figure out what I wanted to do for a career, I got certified as a trainer. But the problem is the only people interested in training with me were men,” she told The Blast. “And I’m a married woman and a bunch of men in a gym wanting to train with you just because you’re hot does not make for a comfortable marriage.” 

And then Curry had a medical issue to deal with - a benign fibroid grew in her uterus that was so huge it was “smashing into my bladder.” 

“It was awful so I had to go in and get surgery. I’m high as a kite on Percocet at home watching ‘Edward Scissorhands’ looped out of my mind and I see Peg the Avon lady and I’m like, is Avon still around? That was the first makeup I ever got when I was a kid from my grandma,” she explained. “So I guess high as a kite, I signed up to sell Avon and I f-cking forgot about it and then this kit shows up at my house and some weird lady starts calling me to welcome me to Avon and I’m hanging up because how did she get my number?”

So Curry decided why not, let’s sell some Avon! She said while she had zero intention of selling it at first, she loved everything she was using, and since she couldn’t lift anything heavy while she was recovering from surgery and post-surgical depression was setting in, she became “obsessed” with putting on skincare and makeup and streaming. 

Eight years later, here she is enjoying this new passion.

“Talk about a happy little accident. It fell in my lap. And I love doing it,” she said. “And my dead grandma, my friends hate that I call her dead grandma, but I’m like, it’s accurate, bought me Avon as my first makeup.”

And while she’s enjoying every minute of her Avon life, she said she’s dealt with her fair share of being made fun of because she was famous and now selling Avon, but she said, “I don’t give a s-it what people think.” 

Curry decided to join TikTok recently and for an interesting reason. At first, she didn’t want any part of it, but once she was told it could help her Avon business, she decided to give it a shot, and fans have welcomed her with open arms. 

“I have avoided TikTok forever. But I went to Napa Valley with Avon and I’m sitting next to the CEO and the Avon ladies are talking about being on TikTok. Eventually I was like, I’m not on TikTok and in a conference room with like 80 Avon ladies and a couple of dudes, and you could just hear the collective gasp,” she said. “And I’m like, am I stupid?”

Everyone told her that she was missing out on potential business by not being on TikTok so she decided to give it a shot, and in just a little over a month, she’s got more than 54,000 followers and has seen an increase in customers. She also shares bits of her life in videos- talking about the past, sharing truths that people want to hear about Hollywood, and just being as real as she can be not only in her videos, but also her lives. 

You can keep up with Curry on TikTok and Instagram, and buy Avon from her on her website.