#Socialites, join us in sending prayers to the family, friends, and fans of model and TV personality Gail O’Neill, who has passed away at 61.
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O’Neill was a top fashion model who became one of the original correspondents on CBS’ ‘The Early Show.’ According to reports, O’Neill was believed to be 61 years of age at her death, with a cause for her passing currently unknown to the public at this time.
O’Neill was born in Westchester, New York as the daughter of Jamaican immigrants. The model-turned-TV personality caught her big break in the fashion and entertainment world when she was working a marketing job at Xerox. While there, she was discovered and began to strut herself, beginning her modeling career in the mid-1980s.
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During her career, the model has appeared on tons of fashion and lifestyle magazine covers, like Vogue, Essence, and Mademoiselle. She has also been featured in a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.
O’Neill has also starred in advertisements for fashion, beauty, and food brands like Coca-Cola, Revlon, Avon, Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Michael Kors, Perry Ellis, and more.
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It is noted that along with supermodel Naomi Campbell, Gail O’Neill was an early member of the Black Girls Coalition, which is an advocacy group for black models founded by Iman and Bethann Hardison.
Throughout O’Neill’s career, she also kept her morals and ethics intact as she would refuse to appear in advertisements for cigarettes and would refuse to work for companies that had South African investments during the era of apartheid.
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After making a name for herself in the fashion world, O’Neill would eventually carve her own lane in TV and entertainment. The famed TV personality became one of the founding correspondents on CBS’ ‘The Early Show‘ when the program launched in 1999.
O’Neill also went on to host CNN’s travel series called ‘Travel Now,’ and also a few HGTV series, like ‘Missing Organization,’ and ‘Public Places, Private Spaces.’ O’Neill, who had been living in Atlanta, Georgia, worked for ArtsATL for the last two decades of her life.
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