Natalia Vodianova used to be afraid of "rejection" when she was younger.
Natalia Vodianova
The 35-year-old model signed up to a modelling agency at the age of 15, and was signed to Viva models two years later, but the star has admitted she never wanted to leave her home in Russia or her "cute boyfriend" to pursue her career because she was fearful of being turned down.
Speaking about her journey to becoming a catwalk icon, and how she nearly missed out on the opportunity, she said: "When I was first signed to a modelling agency, I didn't want to leave my town [Nizhny Novgorod] or my cute boyfriend.
"I would turn up to castings, afraid of rejection. The thing is, when you're really poor, the only thing you have left is your pride."
And the star has revealed she purposefully decided to miss almost 10 trains because she was scared of the outcome.
She said: "My grandmother bought me tickets to Moscow and I missed the train on purpose about six times."
However, the blonde beauty has revealed there was a reason behind her actions, and her intuition largely helped her to "navigate" her way through her life.
She explained: "I've always relied on my intuition to navigate through life."
Although the fashion muse had to force herself to attend castings, she has admitted that on reflection she is proud of her achievements and should have given herself "more credit" for her successes when she was younger and uprooted to a big city in America.
She explained to Elle magazine: "I don't think I ever gave myself enough credit for moving to New York at 17."
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