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Dark-haired beauty Crystal Renn made her mark on the modelling industry by hitting the catwalk in 2006 as a plus-sized model. But now she's barely recognisable with bleached blonde hair and a very thin frame.

Credit: Schon! Magazine

The 25-year-old appears to be embracing her new appearance, starring on the cover of Schon! magazine in a high-cut gold-mirrored body suit, her blonde hair pulled back tightly into a ponytail.

Renn was only 14 years old when she was first scouted in Mississippi, but was told any future success as a model would require her to lose a third of her total body weight.

See Crystal Renn when she was the plus-size model to watch

In her book, Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves, she talked about her battle with anorexia, before she gained 70 pounds and re-entered the industry as a catwalk plus-size model in 2006.

Her previous routines involved eating only lettuce and vegetables while attending up to 10 castings a day, and exercising obsessively at the gym - sometimes to the extent of eight hours a day.

Crystal Renn, now and then. Credit: Getty

While Renn was applauded by many for challenging the perceived notions of body-image in the fashion industry with her plus-sized body, she says her recent weight loss is only due to taking up hiking and yoga.

Many have criticised her latest move as hypocritical and a betrayal to those who previously supported her.

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Editor-in-Chief of PLUS Model Magazine, Madeline Jones, told RadarOnline.com that, "Everyone rallied around her and now she's turned against us. We have been betrayed by her.

"Crystal was the biggest plus size supermodel in our era and a lot of readers aspired to be like her. We supported her one hundred percent."

Jones also doubted Renn's claims at having lost the weight so easily.

“You don’t lose that much weight doing yoga and hiking! You have to put a lot of effort to go from a 14 to a size 6.

“We’re not that stupid, we know how hard it is to lose weight and she insulted our intelligence.”

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In a response, Renn stated that her "in-between" weight now was "an interesting place to be in fashion, where extremes are the norm."

"I've been a double-zero, children's clothes, at 95 pounds, and I've been all the way up to a size 16 and everything in between.

"[Now I'm] a 6, 8, sometimes a 10 depending on what designer I'm wearing."