The ‘90s: grunge, glitz, glamor. In a decade when the parties never seemed to end, Joey Mead emerged as one of the country’s legendary fashion icons—a host, supermodel, and VJ who was living the jet-setting life that many could only dream of having.

But when the lights came on and the makeup came off, she struggled with the turmoil lurking just underneath the surface.

Runaway Model is the story of Joey Mead King, from her uncertain childhood in Australia to her own peaceful, triumphant reclamation of life, even as the pandemic raged around the globe. It is a memoir of the shimmering decades of Philippine fashion—starring the places and the personalities that defined that era—as well as the dark shadows that sometimes accompanied each brightly-lit scene. But most of all, it is a story about love in all its many forms—the kind that only blossoms when you begin to love yourself.