Irina Shayk thought she was born into the "wrong body" when growing up.
Irina Shayk used to think she was born into the wrong body
The 37-year-old model explained that because her father had always wanted her to be a boy, she ended up "hating" being a girl and felt like she had to become head of the family once her dad had passed away but ended up determined to escape her native Russia.
She told Elle: "My dad had always wanted to have a boy. He loved us, but when he died, I kind of felt like, ‘I have to take care of the family.' I always thought I was born in the wrong body. I hated being a girl. I remember fights with my mom; she wanted to dress me in something flowery. I wanted dark colors and something solid. It wasn’t that I wanted to be a boy, but I felt like, ‘I don’t belong to my body."
After being spotted by a model scout at the age of 20, Irina kickstarted her career on the catwalk, and even though she faced pressure from industry bosses to lose weight, she refused to back down and remained determined to earn money.
She said: "I had agents who said, ‘You have to cut your hair, lose 20 pounds, and become blonde. And I was like, ‘Absolutely f****** no. Whatever happens in my job, I’m like, ‘Everyone is alive.
I was like, ‘I’m not going back to Russia."
After landing a €1000 gig, Irina - who now has six-year old Lea with ex-boyfriend and Hollywood star Bradley Cooper - sent a couple of hundred back to her , mother, who used the money to buy furniture.
She added: "She told all her friends, ‘My daughter bought me a sofa!'"
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