At 19, with several teen magazine cover shoots behind her and also the prospect of a lucrative modelling career ahead, she appeared to possess the world at her feet.
But while to others she seemed a good and delightful young woman, Bethaney Wallace was facing a crippling struggle with eating disorders which saw her weight plunge to under 7st - and which finally claimed her lifetime.
Doctors believe that, within the 3 years since she developed anorexia and bulimia, her condition had weakened her heart and it gave out as she slept.
Yesterday, her father Clive, 47, said: 'She lost her self-esteem.
'She would say she was fat but she was so beautiful - she didn't realise how beautiful she was. She'd up days and down days. It had been like Jekyll and Hyde.
'I tried to warn her that her organs would fail but she just said: “Don't be silly”. If you mentioned food it would start an argument.'
Her mother Cathy, 42, added that she felt helpless because Bethaney couldn't be persuaded to find professional advice.
'It am hard to get help,' the housewife said. 'I went to the doctor's a few times by myself.
'I asked these to call her in for another thing and then bring up the eating disorders. But Beth wasn't a child and so i couldn't force her to obtain help.
'You are slowly watching your child die.'
Bethaney, from Newmarket, Suffolk, worked on her first photoshoot when she was 12. She became a sought-after model for glossy magazines for example Make It Groovy, Girl Talk and Popgirl, earning £112 per shoot.
But at 16, she lost weight after developing glandular fever and decided she didn't wish to restore it on again, later developing anorexia and bulimia.
Friends reported that Bethaney, who gained four A*s, four As and a B in her GCSEs, as well as an A*, two Bs and a C at A-level, would hardly eat when they went out to restaurants together, only picking at bread.
Even around the times when she sat right down to eat a proper meal with your family, her parents couldn't relax a bit, knowing she would make herself sick later.
Her weight plummeted from 8st 7lb to just 6st 10lb, leaving her gaunt 5ft 3in frame so weak that they was barely able to leave the house
.
Her bmi was 16.6, meaning she was classed as dangerously underweight. Models were banned at this year's Madrid Fashion Week when they had a BMI of under 18.
The teenager died on April 18, while she was staying at her grandmother's house in Moulton, Suffolk.
Her parents, who in addition have a 22-year-old daughter, Shari, said her death was all the more tragic because Bethaney had finally started confronting her condition late last year.
She had received an eating plan by West Suffolk Eating disorders Service to help her.
Her father, a roof tiler, added: 'She was getting better. She was having counselling and making good progress however the paramedics said her blood sugar level was really low.'
An inquest was opened and adjourned on April 23. A full hearing is expected later this season.
Bex Parramint, from Power Model Management in Norwich, which represented Bethaney, paid tribute to her as a 'bright, smiley, beautiful' girl.
She added: 'She was so cute. She only agreed to be right as she was.'
A spokesman for the eating disorder charity Beat said: 'Our hearts go out to Bethaney's family.
'Eating disorders are devastating illnesses and it is particularly poignant that they have been making progress in her battle to conquer her illness.
'Eating disorders have a huge toll on our bodies during a period of time
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