Tyler tells tales of her tribulations: Model to speak to teenage girls about believing in themselves

Oct 12, 2008 (Albuquerque Journal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- NWS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Mia Tyler, daughter of Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler, has a message for teenage girls everywhere -- be yourself and don't worry about what other people think.

But Tyler isn't quite sure how she will phrase that message to the 300 teenage girls in Albuquerque at the Believe in New Mexico Girls 2008 Health and Safety Conference on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 17-18.

In fact, she says she's nervous -- it will be her first time speaking to a large group of young people.

Tyler, 30, who recounts her unusual childhood, drug use and work as a plussize model in the new book "Creating Myself: How I Learned That Beauty Comes in All Shapes, Sizes and Packages, Including Me," is starting a career as a public speaker, one she honed through conversations with MySpace friends -- nearly 47,000 at last count -- some of whom are girls who write to her about their insecurities and body image issues.

Tyler grew up in New Hampshire and New York with her mother, former Andy Warhol model Cyrinda Foxe. She visited her father on weekends and met her half-sister, actress Liv Tyler, backstage at an Aerosmith show.

Tyler says she began smoking pot and using cocaine and LSD in high school. By 17 she had started cutting herself, a form of self-injury that involves scratching or cutting the body with a sharp object, often on the wrists and arms. It is a dangerous addiction Tyler says is too often ignored.

"People don't understand it," she says in a telephone interview with the Journal. "It does become an addiction. You're hurting so bad on the inside that the pain you're causing on the outside is a release."

When she was 19, her father helped her get into a rehabilitation center. Beyond drug abuse, Tyler says, "I wasn't OK with myself on the inside. I had a lot of demons I hadn't dealt with."

She began to get her life under control after Foxe was diagnosed with brain cancer. It was a wakeup call to mend their rocky relationship, Tyler says. Her mother died in 2002.

In New Mexico, Tyler won't say, "Don't do what I did." That won't work with teens, she says.

"I did some stupid things and I could have gone down a really bad path," Tyler says. "If I can kind of tell them my story, then they don't need to reach rock bottom themselves."

Tyler also hopes to speak about the importance of self-confidence for girls of all sizes. "I never really cared about what other people thought, that's what I try and tell young girls," she says.

Kathi Brown, coordinator of the New Mexico Girls Institute, a program of the New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women, says the conference brings 15- to 18-year-old girls across the state together to discuss important issues in a safe space.

"The whole essence of the conference is that we believe in them, that we want them to succeed," Brown says. "We want these girls to be leaders in their own lives."

The concept of a girls' conference emerged from a 2005 survey of 1,200 girls in New Mexico, Brown says. Most cited drugs, teen pregnancy and sex as the most pressing issues facing girls. Many asked for teen health centers and more programs for girls, and said they needed more information about drug abuse and sex education.

Adults think teens are overloaded with information, but many don't feel comfortable accessing it, Brown says. She uses the example of a counselor's office stocked with unread pamphlets.

"The girls are yearning for this type of information," she says.

In addition to dating violence and suicide prevention workshops, yoga and self-defense classes, girls will meet with members of the Governor's Women's Health Advisory Council and the Department of Health's Office of School and Adolescent Health. Sixteenyear-old Washington state resident Dallas Jessup, a martial arts expert who created the film "Just Yell Fire" to empower girls to fight sexual assault, will also speak at the conference.

"I wanted the girls in New Mexico to see a girl who was watching TV one night and saw something that struck her and did something about it," Brown says, about choosing Jessup to speak at the event. "She's really no different from a lot of them." 'Believe in New Mexico Girls'

WHAT: The Believe in New Mexico Girls 2008 Health and Safety Conference is a safe forum for 15 -to 18-year-old girls to discuss issues. It is put on by the New Mexico Girls Institute, a program of the New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women.

WHEN: Friday and Saturday, Oct. 17-18

WHERE: University of New Mexico Student Union Building

TO REGISTER: Visit the nmgirlsinstitute.org or call Kathi Brown at (800) 432-9168 by today. Registration is $10.

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