Kate Moss is opening up about a traumatic modelling experience she had in the early years of her career.
While appearing on a recent episode of the Fashion Neurosis podcast, Kate described being pushed to model topless when she was still just 15 years old, even though it made her extremely uncomfortable.
The supermodel said she was being photographed by British fashion photographer Corinne Day for The Face magazine, and that even though she “never wanted to be topless”, the photographer suggested Kate would lose future job opportunities if she didn’t do as asked.
“I had to get over it because the photographer was like, ‘If you don’t do this, I’m not gonna book you for the next job’,” she said.
To make matters even worse, Kate added, her brother was bullied over the revealing images.
“Luckily, The Face wasn’t really sold in Croydon,” she said, referencing her hometown. “I don’t think anyone really saw it. But I mean, they heard…
“They took the piss out of my brother, like ‘Oh your sister has her tits out.’ He probably suffered more than I did about it.”
She explained that she dealt with her discomfort at the time because “you can’t be very self-conscious because your body’s kind of not your own when you’re a vessel for somebody else’s imagination”.
Kate was scouted at age 14 by Storm Management modelling agency in JFK International Airport.
The British icon has previously shared regrets about her famous 1992 Calvin Klein shoot with Mark Wahlberg and photographer Herb Ritts, in which she also posed topless.
In a cover interview with Vanity Fair in December 2012, she revealed that the photoshoot with Mark made her have a “nervous breakdown”.
“It didn’t feel like me at all,” Kate explained. “I felt really bad about straddling this buff guy. I didn’t like it. I couldn’t get out of bed for two weeks. I thought I was going to die.”
Watch Kate Moss’ full interview on the Fashion Neurosis With Bella Freud podcast below: