She’s survived an entire decade in the industry but Rosie Huntington-Whiteley recalls how difficult it was starting out as a model at the age of 15.
The Victoria’s Secret Angel has opened up about her early years in the biz in an interview with The Guardian and says she was instructed by her agent to stick to a ridiculously strict diet.
One agent even advised her to eat just “a single piece of sushi a day”, the British beauty revealed.
Thankfully, her response to the agent was “Go f*** yourself!”.
The 26-year-old, who is the face of Australian makeup label ModelCo, says the industry has changed drastically during her 10-year career because models now have to be “more real now than ever”.
“Everybody wants to know the models,” she says.
“There’s more engagement … You’re no longer this one-dimensional image. It’s more expected now for supermodels to be smart, to have opinions, to have a personality.”
Last week, British former teen model Georgina Wilkin opened up about her eight-year battle with anorexia and blamed the industry for pushing her to that point.
“If you weren’t thin enough you were sent out of the room immediately,” she told the Telegraph. “I was sent out. At the end of the day, my modeling career lasted for three years and as a result, I’ve had anorexia for eight, and I’m still battling it today.
“For the sake of a couple of years of modeling success, it’s just not worth it.”
This article originally appeared on News.com.au.