See this runway diva? Take a guess at her age.

Her name is Gerren Taylor, and folks— she’s twelve.

Girlfriend is now 18, but back when filmmaker Darryl Roberts got a hold of her, she was strutting down runways by day and playing with dolls by night. By the time junior high rolled around, Taylor was an awe-inspiring six-feet tall and easily became the world’s youngest supermodel.

America the Beautiful follows the launch (and demise) of Taylor’s controversial modeling career while chucking a number of “say what?” facts and tidbits about the beauty industry at its audience along the way.

For instance, who would’ve thunk that Dr. 90210 isn’t a board-certified plastic surgeon? The man has his own TV show! That’s gotta count for—nothing. News Flash: A large number of private practice plastic surgeons aren’t board certified. (An exact number is hard to come by since these fools submit nada to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.) And most didn’t even specialize in plastic surgery while in med school.

Oh, and have you heard that the Army now offers free face lifts and boob jobs to “anyone wearing a uniform”? It’s part of an incentive program to get people to sign up. All this time, you thought your hard-earned tax dollars were being squandered by do-nothing bureaucrats on dead-end wars. No, no. It’s being put to even better use.

So what does all this have to do with Taylor, our little pre-teeny bopper? Well, the fact that a 12-year-old is the vision of beauty in this culture is alarming. People are cutting themselves open to look like a kid again. They’re buying carcinogenic cosmetic products to hide those fine lines and wrinkles. They’re dying away from malnourishment.

As for Taylor, she became “ugly” real quick—at least, by industry standards—because she grew up, which is something this obsessed-much culture of ours could do a little more of.

Whether you’re a gal or dude, America the Beautiful is worth your time. All of us have been influenced by the beauty bug in some way. What girl hasn’t ever dieted? What dude doesn’t want a six-pack or a “hot” girlfriend? In this film, Darryl Roberts exposes much of the ugliness that society tries so hard to nip and tuck away. In the end, he’ll have you wondering. . .what’s so beautiful about being beautiful?

See for yourself. Here’s a preview:

Tags: Beauty, Documentary, Gerren Taylor, Plastic Surgery