After humble beginnings in Russia, Irina Shayk has taken the modeling world by storm.
After being scouted in 2004 at a local beauty contest in Chelyabinsk, Shayk quickly found mainstream success with names like Sports Illustrated and Victoria’s Secret, before transitioning into high-fashion work that’s included everything from campaigns for Burberry to walking major fashion week runways.
As the cover star of British Vogue’s March 2020 issue, 34-year-old Shayk recalled her early years growing up in the small town of Yemanzhelinsk as well as the traumatic event that shaped her childhood.
“Probably my changing point was when I was six years old,” she told the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Edward Enninful. “My father worked for 20 years and finally bought a car - to have a car in the village, it was really like you were the king,” she said, noting that he then sold the car with the intention of putting the money towards a house for the family or college.
“But when I was six we got robbed. I opened the door and three guys wearing masks came in, and they were pointing a gun to my head. They were like, ‘Where is your father? We know you have money in the house,’” she said, tearing up.
“One was pointing a gun to my head, and the two others were fighting with my father. We lived on the first floor and my father jumped out of the window. He went to ask for help, and the guys got scared and ran away.”
Thankfully, Irina and her father weren’t hurt, but the terrifying incident made a lasting impression on Shayk. “I knew that my father’s best friend betrayed him, because he was the only one who knew that my father was going to sell the car,” she said.
“To this day I don’t open so many doors to people in my life. I don’t want to live without trusting people,” Shayk added. “I don’t talk about that story, because it puts me back to that time, back to losing my father,” she continued, referencing her father's passing from complications of pneumonia when Shayk was just 14-years-old.
The full interview, which is available on newsstands and online beginning January 31st, also sees Shayk opening up about her breakup with actor Bradley Cooper and how they co-parent their three-year-old daughter, Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper.
