Chrissy Teigen didn't believe she was a 'real model'

25 May 2019

Chrissy Teigen never considered herself to be a "real model".

Chrissy Teigen

The 33-year-old model and television host began her career as an aspiring model when she was a teenager when she would don t-shirts with slogans on the back for clothing websites, and has said she didn't consider the jobs to be proper modelling jobs because people "didn't even see [her] face".

She said: "It was the least glamorous way to model. I never thought of myself as a real model. I made consistent money working for catalogues and websites, where they didn't care if your eyes were open or closed, because you didn't even see my face. I was modelling the back of a shirt with words on it."

Chrissy soon moved to Miami Beach to help further her career, but says she was stuck living in an apartment with just two bedrooms and five other roommates.

She explained: "I would sleep on the sofa. We were all just working to break even, just to pay the rent. My roommates were drinking diet tea and eating cotton balls soaked in chicken broth to stay skinny.

"I remember my friend got a job working at a burrito restaurant and that's all I ate for months. Free burritos."

Now, the beauty is known for having landed the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue in 2014 and being the host of 'Lip Sync Battle', as well as having a prolific presence on social media, where her Instagram boasts more than 24 million followers.

Chrissy often posts pictures of her two children - Luna, three, and Miles, 12 months, whom she has with husband John Legend - but has said she always makes sure the family updates don't include things that might "embarrass" her brood in the future.

Speaking to Net-A-Porter's PorterEdit magazine, she said: "There's nothing that happens that we really feel we can't post. We don't want to post pictures of the kids that they may see in ten years and be embarrassed by, but that's it. We're not pretending that life is perfect. I'm not the person who goes to work and posts the glam photos. When I'm on set, I love to be present."