Irina Shayk always thought she was "supposed to be a boy".
Irina Shayk covers Vogue
The 34-year-old model - who has two-year-old daughter Lea with former partner Bradley Cooper - had a strong feeling she had been "born in the wrong body" when she was a teenager and convinced herself she had to step up to be the man of the household when her father passed away.
She admitted: "I always felt like I was born in the wrong body. I felt I was supposed to be a boy.
"I don't know why. Maybe it's because my father always wanted a boy."
Asked how old she was when she felt like that, she said: "14. When my father passed away, I thought, 'Since I'm a guy, now it's my time to take care of the family.' I said to myself I would never get married."
But these days, Irina loves "being a woman" after outgrowing her teenage confusion.
She added in an interview with Britain's Vogue magazine: "Of course, later on in life I outgrew that, and I love being a woman. But I remember that feeling."
Irina has been single since her four-year relationship with the 'A Star is Born' actor ended in June 2019 and she suggested she has "cut all the ties" between them because she can be quite "cold".
She said: "I have a strong personality and I definitely know what I want, and I think some men are scared of that. If somebody's out of my life, they're out of my life and I really cut all the ties, you know? I think some people are really scared of this coldness.
"I also think not many people know that underneath this there's a nice, sweet person who cries in interviews."
The Russian beauty admitted finding "balance" as a single parent is difficult.
She said: "It's hard to find a balance between being a single mom and being a working woman and provider. Trust me, there are days I wake up and I'm like, "Oh my god, I don't know what to do, I'm falling apart."
Read the full interview with Irina in the March issue of Vogue magazine, which is available via digital download and on newsstands from Friday (31.01.20). https://www.vogue.co.uk/news/article/irina-shayk-march-issue-british-vogue-2020
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