Irina Shayk has spoken candidly about why she used to feel like she was “born into the wrong body”.
The 37-year-old supermodel opened up about her childhood and her relationship with her parents during an interview with Elle, published on 8 November. She revealed how focused she was on her family at the age of 14 after her father died of complications from pneumonia.
“My dad had always wanted to have a boy,” she said. “He loved us, but when he died, I kind of felt like: ‘I have to take care of the family.”
The model went on to recall how she often felt like a boy when she was a child, as she didn’t enjoy wearing clothing marketed for girls.
“I always thought I was born in the wrong body,” she said. “I hated being a girl. I remember fights with my mom; she wanted to dress me in something flowery. I wanted dark colours and something solid.”
She went on to clarify her feelings at the time, adding: “It wasn’t that I wanted to be a boy, but I felt like: ‘I don’t belong to my body.’”
Shayk specified that she felt like the “completely opposite” from her sister, Tatiana Shaykhlislamova, who was interested in hair and makeup as a child.
This isn’t the first time that Shayk – who started modelling at age 14 – has shared her candid thoughts about her appearance and career. During an interview with People in 2018, Shayk acknowledged that, despite how many times she’s walked the runway, she doesn’t necessarily identify with the term “supermodel”. She also opened up about her sense of style and how she feels it’s different from the way models dress.
“It means nothing. I’m just a human being,” she said. “I don’t wake up in hair and makeup and high heels. I literally love to wear the most comfortable clothes ever and sometimes when my agent sees me, he’s like: ‘Irina, this is not okay.’ And I’m like: ‘This is me.’”
She said that she doesn’t tell herself “Oh my god I’m so perfect” when she wakes up each day, before adding that she sometimes criticises herself for how she looks.
“I wake up and say: ‘Maybe it’s time to go to the gym, I have cellulite,’” she said. “I’m very critical of myself. I feel like once you get too comfortable that’s the day you go down. I’m a Capricorn so I love to push myself to do better.”
During her interview with Elle, Shayk – who shares a six-year-old daughter, Lea, with ex Bradley Cooper – expressed how she’s been criticised by modelling agents for her appearance. She recalled how, shortly before she turned 20, she’d heard casting directors whisper to each other about her curves and skin tone.
“I had agents who said: ‘You have to cut your hair, lose 20 pounds, and become blonde,’” she recalled. “And I was like: ‘Absolutely f***ing no.’” She shared the candid “perspective” she had after that experience, which she said she’s also had since her father passed away.
“Whatever happens in my job, I’m like: ‘Everyone is alive,’” she said. “I was like: ‘I’m not going back to Russia.”
She added that she eventually booked a job in Spain, where she made €1,000, some of which she sent to her mother. “It was so much money,” Shayk explained. “[My mother] told all her friends: ‘My daughter bought me a sofa.’”
