the mona lisa might have a tough time getting booked for "vogue" today and cameron would be way too skinny this model for the renaissance masters. but being born into a culture where tall and thin is in, can create body image angst, even among the women in the pictures. >> you just need to meet a group of models. they have the most shiny hair and thinnest thighs and they're the most unhappy women on the planet. >> i am promoting an ideal that's maybe not attainable. and for that, i have to feel guilty and assume some blame for that. >> would you ever consider leaving the industry out of principle? >> no. i mean, i don't think fashion is evil. i think some people definitely got at that issue when they said yeah, but you still work in this industry and still promote a skinny white beauty ideal. i have to say yeah, that's true and that is unfortunate. i hope that the benefits outweigh the costs. >> reporter: russell is not the first to wrestle with perceived perfection. a few years back, dove soap waded in this territory with the real beauty campaign. they made a short film to show how makeup

she was known as the migrant mona lisa.t photograph was taken. there she was. she'd never talked to a reporter before i got there because she was mad because she never got a picture. >> oh. >> and so i asked her, i said, listen, what did you do? she said, i dragged 100-pound sacks of cotton. i worked tending bar. i cleaned hospital floors and i raised ten kids. >> she did what she had to do? >> yeah. and i asked her, i said, did you ever lose hope? and she leaned back, and she said, honey, if i had lost hope, america wouldn't be here. >> oh, my gosh. >> wow. >> and so when someone says that, did it take a few years of being a professional person to realize, oh, my gosh, that's gold? or did you just know the minute somebody grins, because it's ugly, it's got rocks all over it, but it's mine? >> well, all of my in-laws are cops, and they say whoever speaks in an interrogation room first loses, because they tell you things that you haven't asked for. so i took that technique and i said, you know, mostly in television we ate de

>> something like ♪ mona lisa ♪ >> reporter: did it work every time? >> every time.rter: that influenced the sort of voad he willing part of it >> back in the projects (yodeling) you can hear some of that in what i do today. >> reporter: so you were up in the back here somewhere? >> yeah. reporter: we visited another landmark in his life, the new orleans parish prison. how long were you in here? >> six months reporter: he was 18 when he was busted for joy riding. >> it was just too easy to steal cars back then. put it in neutral and it started. so really tempting. >> reporter: but neville would write his first record inside, a song called "every day." ♪ every day along about 3 i'm dreaming of the day i'll be free ♪ that was my first recording in 1960. >> reporter: six years later neville would have his breakthrough hit. ♪ tell it like it is ♪ >> reporter: what examine you think when that happened? >> man i was scared. i didn't know what to think. all of a sudden i got a record climbing the charts. i'm out in the streets. working on the docks. and the first week it ca

she was known as the migrant mona lisa. you do? she said, i dragged 100-pound sacks of cotton. i worked tending bar. i cleaned hospital floors and i raised ten kids. >> she did what she had to do? >> yeah. and i asked her, did you ever lose hope? and she said, honey, if i had lost hope, america wouldn't be here. >> oh, my gosh. >> wow. >> so when someone says that, did it take a few years of being a professional person to realize, oh, my gosh, that's gold? or did you just know the minute somebody grins, it's ugly, it's got rocks all over it, but it's mine? >> well, all of my in-laws are cops and they saw whoever speaks in an interrogation room first loses. because they tell you things that you haven't asked for. so i took that technique and i said, mostly in television we ate dead air. so, question, question, question. me, if somebody said a cliche, i just lean back and they figure i don't know. so they go, dummy, that's why i killed my wife. boom, it's gold. >> trying to help you out. >> yeah, exactly. >> that is great. th