A FORMER drug addict has shared how she became a successful tattoo model, raking in nearly £100,000 a year from her steamy Instagram snaps.

Heidi Lavon, who started smoking cannabis aged 12, now has almost 900,000 Instagram followers and sells her pictures to brands and magazines.

She said: "The first time I got caught drinking underage I was 15.

"I was running out of a house party. I tried to climb a fence and a cop pulled me down off it."

Heidi now charges brands £247 - £495 ($300 - $600) per social media post and some pay her a monthly salary between £1,650 - £3,301 ($2,000-$4,000) to post on any of her platforms.

She also sells fully retouched photo sets to brands and magazines for their editorial and promotional use for between £825 - £1,237 ($1000-$1500).

Her tattooed veteran fiance takes the pictures for her.

Heidi, 32, said: "Before when I was getting DUIs and just being over all unhealthy and dumb I was making maybe $25,000 a year.

"The internet is amazing it's been great to me.

"It's really beneficial for me to be as independent as I am because I taught myself Photoshop Lightroom and a work flow.

"I don't have to ask the permission of any photographer to use my own photos as I wish.

"My fiance shoots them and I retouch them and finish the business deal."

YEARS OF ABUSE

Heidi said growing up in Fairbanks, Alaska, put her on a dangerous road to doing drugs.

She said tried most drugs including mushrooms, then ecstasy, then onto harder drugs like meth, coke, and krank - a dirtier version of meth.

After six years of suffering abuse and doing drugs, including two drink driving charges, Heidi decided to clean up her act.

The tattooed model now vows to never return to her former life after she suffered from violence and abuse.

The model said: "It's a running joke between me and my Alaska friends how sad it is.

"Nothing good ever comes from growing up there or even staying. There was only one tattoo shop in my small town and it's ten years behind everything else.

"I started smoking weed when I was 12. It was easily accessible, and my friends older brothers and sisters always had it.

"My friends would take alcohol from their parents' liquor cabinet, then refill the bottle with water.

"That quickly escalated to mushrooms, then ecstasy. Then meth, and coke, and krank.

"I even tried crack, which was disgusting. It tasted like car parts and engine fuel.

"This was all by the age of 18, by the way."

I was sick and tired of seeing my friends die, or go to prison.

At point she found herself "in a very horrible and abusive relationship," enduring physical, mental, and emotional abuse.

She said: "I've been picked up, and slammed into mirrors. Left for days on end alone in sketchy motels."

One partner in particular beat her so hard she went limp.

She added: "I would literally just take it, I'd not even open my mouth."

She finally hit her breaking point and vowed to get better.

Heidi, who now lives in Portland, Oregon, said: "I was sick and tired of seeing my friends die, or go to prison.

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"Sick of being sick, sick of being broke, sick of the disappointment from my friends and family.

"I used to shove anything I saw up my nose.

"Quitting is the best thing I could have done for myself. I have so much clarity now."

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