A mum-of-three has spoken of her dreams of becoming a professional model. Kylie Gill, is entering the final of the Top Model 2023 event in London later this year.
Kylie, from Merstham in Surrey, first become a mum at 17 and was caring for two children at age 18 and then three by the time she was 21. At this time she married at just 19 years of age but was divorced at 23, which she thought might put her dreams of becoming a full-time model to bed.
Despite the difficulties in bringing up her children she took up modelling on a part-time basis eight years ago and quickly found success. She made the front cover of Babe Watch magazine and was a finalist at the UK calendar girls competition in 2021, SurreyLive reports.
Although she achieved success, Kylie thought about giving it up after becoming demoralised she may never achieve her dream of becoming a full-time model. Currently working as an accounts assistant for a roofing company, she hopes the Top Model competition this September can help her finally achieve her dream after a long road.
“Me and my husband split up two weeks before my son was due to be born,” she said. “That year was probably the hardest year of my life because I was dealing with having a newborn baby as well as splitting up. That was really challenging.
“Over the years I and my ex have become really good friends and things are really good, we put the children first. I always doubted myself (and) it was only in 2018 that my modelling career started properly.
“It slowed down again and it felt like I didn’t know where to go or how to get modelling jobs, I found myself [at] the point where I was thinking of giving up. I did have it firmly in my head that it was time I stopped, I said to myself ‘you’ve tried for so long’. It’s been very up and down over the years.
“Then I saw this Top Model competition and things are starting to look up again. It gave me that push to keep going, I’m 34 now but I still think as a model I’ve still got a few years left.”
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Kylie says her three kids - Hayley, 16, Cassy, 15 and Kaynen, 11 - are all supportive of her career. Despite her daughters being left mildly embarrassed by the lingerie modelling she used to post to her 5,000 followers on Instagram, they are fully behind her efforts as she pivots towards more fashion modelling.
Squarely focused on winning the over 25 award at the Top Model competition, she said success would represent a “massive achievement” for her. After her last competition left her in tears after hearing others called up as winners she is determined to make amends.
She added: “I remember that feeling like I’d failed and thinking ‘what’s the point in carrying on?’. It was that that made me think ‘you should give up’. If I was to get through to something next it would be the best thing ever, it would be huge.”
