Supermodel Erin O'Connor has reportedly said that she was insecure about her looks before her international career was launched.
In an interview with the Independent, she said: "When I was starting out in fashion, there were people who told me to get my nose reduced and my boobs blown up.
"I was bothered by my wonky nose and the fact I didn't appear to have a blossoming cleavage, but I felt incensed, and thought, 'I'm not going to do that for you.'
"It was an important day and if I'd gone and interfered with my face, I would have zero career right now."
She added: "I may look stern in a magazine, but I'm actually quite friendly!
"It's easy to be pigeonholed: I was the 6ft woman who looked as though I could come at you with a machete, not the girl you see on the cover with a great smile, lovely teeth and plump lips, so I was always told I'd never be on a Vogue cover as I didn't look approachable enough."
O'Connor has since been photographed for the covers of both Italian and British Vogue.
She continued: "The glamour and glories of modelling are all great fun but when you're home, stripped of your make-up and the nice lighting, you have to be able to reason with the person you truly are.
"We're assaulted by technology and our body parts are now constantly either shrunk or expanded [by Photoshopping] in an attempt to create an unobtainable version of perfection, but in doing so we've lost the essence of that beauty, and the impact this has on young women is quite disturbing."
Now that she is established in her career and in her ethical clothing business, she revealed that the essence of living is routine: "There was a time when I would be on a flight three times a week, travelling to wherever the shoot was; life was so unpredictable and I had to be a willing nomad.
"There's something quite exotic about staying indoors, watching 'EastEnders', cooking a curry and going to the chippie on a Friday night – it's momentous."
