In a series of recent interviews, notoriously private It-Girl of the 90s, Kate Moss, offers a behind-the-scenes take on life on the catwalk, her relationships and her career; teaching some lessons regarding model exploitation and drug usage in the industry.
In a recent interview with Lauren Lavern on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Kate Moss spills the tea on her early life. Let’s take a look at the seven most important takeaways.
Company at Shoots is always a Good Idea
As we know, Kate Moss’ career started at a young age. In fact, she was just 15 at the start of her career. Recently, she revealed her first experience with feelings of vulnerability whilst shooting pictures for a bra catalogue.
But it wasn’t the shoot that left her feeling this way, it was the male photographer. “I was only 15 probably and he said, ‘take your top off’.” She explains on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.
“I took my top off and I was really shy then about my body, and he said ‘take your bra off’ and I could feel there was something wrong so I got my stuff and ran away.”
And although it was an uncomfortable experience, Moss continues to express how the incident “sharpened her instinct”. From then on she could subsequently “tell a wrong ‘un from a mile away.” Today Moss, alongside her daughter Lila, runs her own modelling agency. She explains that her models are never on a job alone, and are always with company to protect them.
Hypocritical Accusations are Scarring
After pictures of Kate spread through the media back in 2005, she became trademarked as ‘heroin chic’ – a drug she had never come near. She admits that she felt “sick and was quite angry.”
“Everybody I knew took drugs. So, for them to focus on me, and to try to take my daughter away, I thought was really hypocritical.”
Kate wasn’t charged for the drug use, but formally apologised for the incident. “I had to apologise really,” she says, “if people were looking up to me.”
Glamorising Eating Disorders Was Never Her Intention
Following an interview with Women’s Wear Daily in 2009, Kate became a sort of poster girl for eating disorders. A quote that is often attributed to her, as a result, is “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.”
However, in her recent interview, Moss reveals that the phrase was derived from a fridge magnet. She went on to explain that her friend was “a snacker,” so she had put the magnet up as a joke between them, which has since been taken out of context.
“I was never anorexic – I never had been. I was thin because I didn’t get fed on shoots and I’d always been thin,”
says Moss.
Even Icons Suffer from Low Self-Esteem
Despite her glamorous reputation and fame, Kate reveals that she struggled with self-esteem, claiming that, at the beginning of her career, she didn’t see herself as beautiful and said she never really felt like “model material.”
In an interview on Desert Island Discs, she tells Lauren, “when I said to my mum that I’d met a model agent that wanted me to go to London, she said, ‘I don’t think you’re very photogenic’,”and I replied, “No, neither do I.“
Moss felt a Moral Obligation to Defend Johnny Depp
Appearing on the stand in the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard trial earlier this year, Moss spoke about an infamous ‘stair incident’ in which Depp was rumoured to have pushed the model abusively down a flight of stairs while on holiday.
Speaking of her court appearance in the interview Moss explains, “I believe in the truth and I believe in fairness and justice. I know the truth about Johnny – I know he never kicked me down the stairs, I had to say that truth.”
Even party girls retire at some point
Although famous for her party days, Moss shares that she has now settled down in a house in the Cotswolds. Her new obsessions are gardening, meditation and going to bed early.
“I’ve got a membership to the garden centre and I go with my mum and we have the best time,” she admitted, adding that although her London whirlwind years are behind her “I love a dance, but I’m not into being out of control.”
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