Kate Upton is one of three cover ladies for the October issue of Glamour. Joan Smalls and Emily Ratajkowski also got separate covers, and I’ll be covering those stories separately (or maybe not in Smalls’ case, just because her interview is pretty boring). Anyway, Upton is back to modeling after a brief hiatus where she tried to become a movie star, to somewhat mixed results. I mean, she got chances but Hollywood was just sort of *shrug*. So she re-signed with a modeling agency and I’m guessing she’s refocusing on getting modeling work. In any case, I didn’t hate her interview at all. She talks about body image, the modeling industry and how it’s good to be different.

Did she always want to model? “I knew nothing about fashion growing up, because in Florida you just wear bikinis and flip-flops. But kids can be cruel, and they used to make fun of me for having long legs and bushy eyebrows. My mom would flip through magazines and say, “Look, all these models have that too.” I decided I wanted to be a model.”

Whether she was ever told to lose weight: “All. The. Time. At first I tried to diet to become their image, but eventually I realized that it wasn’t realistic—that this is just the shape of my body. So I had to block them out. I think that the people who are the loudest about wanting to change you are the people with the least amount of vision and creativity.

Her confidence: “Where I grew up, it was considered a great thing to have a curvy body to fill out a bathing suit. For that to be a negative was so confusing to me. And besides, when I started working, I was booked constantly, mostly for catalog work. So when people were saying, “Oh, she doesn’t have the right look for a model,” I thought, Then why am I working every single day? There are so many different directions you can take in the modeling industry, so many ways to be successful.

Her breakthrough year in 2013: “That was a really cool moment. The fact that people were having a conversation about whether I should conform to fashion or not gave me a great platform, because I wanted to show that you shouldn’t conform, you should be the best you, the healthiest you. You shouldn’t always try to change yourself, because then how are we going to tell anybody apart? It’s like L.A.—how do I know who’s who? You all look like sisters.”

Whether negative comments affect her: “In the beginning it was so hurtful. But I have to say, the other day I was reading some negative comments, and I was thinking they were really funny. So I guess they don’t anymore.”

Inspirations: “I love what I do—I love fashion. Whatever you wear, it really sets the tone for the day. If I’m in sweatpants, I fully become that person—I’m lazy and kind of a mess. The opposite is also true; fashion can give you confidence. And things have definitely changed in the industry, mostly for the positive. We’re more accepting now. For me, someone like Ashley Graham, who loves her body and is always talking about it, is inspiring.

[From Glamour]

What’s weird is that I remember the rise of Kate Upton and how truly pearl-clutchy people were about what Upton meant for modeling. Yes, she’s blonde, “wholesome-looking” with big boobs, but people really freaked out because she had hips and she didn’t look like a standard size-zero model. She became a de facto spokeswoman for “curvy models” even though, looking back on it now, she really wasn’t that much bigger than regular models. And I do think Upton opened up the door for someone like Ashley Graham, and for a larger conversation about body diversity in fashion/modeling.

Photos courtesy of Glamour.