She’s covered magazines, strutted the top runways, and even dated one of the hottest rock stars in the world, but Russian supermodel Anne V had just as many insecurities as any girl growing up. The 27-year-old Sports Illustrated model opened up in Ocean Drive magazine’s February 2014 issue about her struggles and even her high-profile relationship with Adam Levine.
“I know it sounds so clichéd, but I never thought I was pretty,” she admitted to the magazine. “I was the tallest in my class and very skinny, and no boys liked me.”
And though she’s since come to grips with her good looks, Anne V still thinks there’s room for improvement.
“I’ve been modeling for 12 years, and I can do it with my eyes closed,” she said. “I know I’m pretty. But there are a lot of things that I don’t like about myself. I wish I wasn’t this white. I never get tan. I wish I could eat everything and not put on weight. Sometimes I wish I didn’t have freckles.”
The former Victoria’s Secret Angel went through a rough patch as a teen where she was putting on weight, putting her modeling career in jeopardy.
“When I was 18, I put on a lot of weight because I was eating pizza and pasta, and I didn’t know how to handle it,” she revealed. “I never ate salads in Russia; we didn’t have salads. The only salads we had were tons of mayo in them. It was really hard, and I’ve battled with it for many years.”
But Anne managed to move past those awkward years and has become one of the top models in the industry, walking in fashion shows for Prada and even starring alongside Naomi Campbell in season 2 of reality show, The Face. And then there’s her highly-publicized relationship with Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, 34, from 2010 to 2012.
Levine quickly moved on to Anne’s fellow Victoria’s Secret model Behati Prinsloo, 24. They dated for about a year before taking a brief break (during which Levine dated Sport’s Illustrated’s Nina Agdal, 21). But in a whirlwind turnaround, Levine dumped Agdal (via text message) and proposed to Prinsloo last July. Looking back, Anne, who is currently dating baseball star Matt Harvey, said the spotlight certainly didn’t help her relationship.
“Honestly, it sucks, but it is what it is,” she continued. “People don’t really realize that at the end of the day, we all want to be loved. We all want to have normal families and relationships and kids. No one wants to get divorced and have someone create stupid dramas and articles about your relationship.”
