Vicious circle

randy johnston via ontd

Yes well if it wasn’t patently obvious that there was more to the story of the sudden, tragic death of 20 year-old model Randy Johnston than was reported by Ford Models on Tuesday New York time, it has not taken long for the chatter to surface.

UPDATE 10/12/08: RIVER PHOENIX LOOKALIKE MODEL DIES. EIGHT WEEKS LATER, NOW WE KNOW WHY.


According to several posters in one web forum who claim to be Johnston’s friends, Johnston died at a party on Saturday night.

Died from what exactly?

In the absence of any kind of official statement or comment from Johnston's agency Ford Models or from his parents, who will now have to contend with not only burying their son but press scrutiny, frockwriter is not going to repeat the claims.

We have sought comment from Ford and will keep you posted.

What we will say however is that although Johnstons’ poor grieving parents are not public figures, the very nature of the career which Johnston pursued in life dictates that even in death, he is.

And while model agencies crank up their models’ profiles in order to get buzz going - ultimately for commercial gain - it’s a little hard to just switch that interest off when it doesn’t suit them and the news is bad.

As reported by frockwriter earlier today, Johnston's obituary details in one local newspaper did seem ambiguous.

The obit reported that, following school, Johnston had “pursued a path unfamiliar to many he knew” and that he had worked hard “in a high pressure industry”.

Also as reported by frockwriter, Johnston admired Sid Vicious - telling models.com that the late Sex Pistols bass player was the person he would most like to meet.

Sid Vicious died from a heroin overdose in 1979 at the age of 21.

What a role model.