You may not remember this story about model Nina Agdal, 25, (who recently aged out of the Leonardo DiCaprio girlfriend experience) revealing that a magazine had body shamed her and refused to put her on the cover. Nina shared a revealing pic to Instagram, which you can see here, in which she wrote that Venice Magazine told her to come back for the cover when she’d lost weight essentially. Venice Magazine denied doing this and claimed in a statement that the photos just didn’t turn out well, but Nina had email proof, which she showed on Megyn Kelly’s show. My initial instinct was to roll my eyes at this, but I saw her interview and she was sincere and seemed genuinely affected by it. It turns out that, by going public with her story, Nina got more recognition and is now being more selective about what she takes. At least that’s my interpretation of this interview she did with W Magazine. She discussed her anxiety about her body and the fact that being open and vulnerable about it was the right decision for her. (Note that this is edited for length.)
What made you decide to post your message on Instagram?
I’ve been holding this in for a while. This is what a lot of girls go through, whether you are a zero or a six or a twelve. We all have insecurities that can just take over your life. It gave me incredible anxiety. It was not a good year for me, but I finally got myself back and I went into this shoot. Then after going through all of this, and finally being back to happy Nina, the response comes back and it is, “You are not good enough.”How did you feel the second after you hit publish?
For 30 minutes I just sat on my couch and cried. It felt like a relief to me, to finally say something this real. Instagram is a perception game. It is not f-cking reality. So to finally publish something that meant something to me, from me, definitely made me feel super emotional and vulnerable. But I felt happy.What else are you doing to support this message now?
I’m being very selective with what I’m doing right now because this is very important to me. I’m not trying to jump into whatever job jumps up… I just support people that truly believe that all women are beautiful. At the end of the day, there should be no judgment or body-shaming on anyone. Obviously I want to continue modeling, but it is just going to be a different direction where I can speak my own story, too, and not just be a face.
Good for her. On the surface this seems like a non-issue when it comes to this one model losing one job. However it’s indicative of a larger problem in that industry where even very fit women are told to get thinner to fit an impossible ideal. I like the trend of highlighting all body types in advertising and in magazines, and would especially like to see more of the “in between” women. I guess that means women like Nina but she’s not in the middle so much as just slightly more athletic than a very tiny model on a catwalk.
Her dog is so cute!
Here she is at the amfAR Gala in NY last night. I don’t have a designer ID on her dress yet but it’s gorgeous and classic.
Photos credit: WENN and Instagram/Nina Agdal
In which universe is this woman even considered ‘unfit for modeling’?
I never had a stunning body and shape like that…
Then we wonder why women are affected by these impossible ‘beauty standards’ (an issue I particularly care about, as I nearly died afyer 10 years of being anorexic).
This girl is pretty basic looking IMO but I hate that she was body shamed I’m so glad that she spoke up.
She is pretty basic looking but she’s got a gorgeous smile.
Not my type either but her body is FIT and the magazine insane for shaming her. Ridiculous standards.
Sorry, what do you guys mean by basic? As in she has no IT factor? I always wonder what people mean by basic as many of the women I see called basic on this state would turn my head if I saw them in public.
erin heatherton decided not to renew her contact as a vs angel after they told her she needed to slim down. look at pictures of her in the last show that she walked.. she was already rail thin. she went on to pose for si at a more healthy weight and looked good. not a single incident at all, i imagine it happens on the hour every hour in that industry.
I thought VC took slightly curvy girls. Alessandra is super skinny but otherwise most of the other models have looked “healthier” than your usual runway model. I am so surprised they did this, but I can totally see that. Good for Erin for walking away. VC is anyway over-rated and I doubt their shows get the same ratings as it did in the past.
vs is about mid range, bigger than high fashion but smaller than si and commercial swimsuit. that said though.. the “range” is insane and the vs girls are pretty rail thin. more and more so each year.
I have this theory that VS pressured both Behati Prinsloo and Doutzen Kroes until losing a bunch of weight a couple of years back. Behati lost a ton of weight suddenly and Doutzen did a shoot looking amazing and very slim and healthy (albeit a tiny bit larger than she used to be), disappeared (and/or had a baby) and came back looking skinnier than ever.
Beagle and a coffee? Yes please, but hold the ☕️
Biggest question of the day: what would you rather? A beagle or puggle?
Definitely a beagle. But. I grew up with a beagle; they aren’t for everyone and people don’t realize there’s a lot more to them than just being really cute. In their minds, they are large hounds trapped in small bodies. The hunting instinct is extremely strong in them. They are smart and crafty and territorial. They study the humans around them and remember how you will react. They chew through things (two doors and a pen my dad built for the dogs) and they burrow and tunnel. Ours was an escape artist.
I have a pug and he is so loving, follows me everywhere i go but snores like no ones business
I have hounds so I prefer beagle to puggle but, TBH, it all depends on personality. Agdal’s puggle has such a great curmudgeon face.
Beagle. Puggles grow up to be so ugly, although they are the world’s cutest puppies.
As a Danish woman, I know she has a good education and could probably do many things besides modeling, if she wants. I lived a year in Denmark and was so impressed by their egalitarian society and excellent education. But, yes, it sucks that she was body-shamed, yet inevitable since in this society women are commodities. I may add that while I was a guest in Denmark (exchange student), I got free medical care just as their citizens did. Classy country.
Being Danish, I’d like to thank you for your kind words about my country. I live in the US at the moment and I always love to hear how my home country is perceived from the outside. Sometimes I’m like “huh!?” and others I’m like “yeah, that’s right. That’s what we Danes are all about.” 😄
I’m fine with this. Please, let these models publicize how their treated. Let girls in on the secret that they’ll never be good enough, that it’s not really about making women “beautiful” but rather turning them into commodities, wearing down their self-confidence and esteem so it’s easier for men to step over them.
Veronica, you speak truth. This is the reason why 1990s type supermodels won’t be a trend again in the fashion industry. The industry disliked the reign of Cindy, Christy, Linda, etc., because they were grown women who were in charge of their careers and got more attention than the clothes. They could dictate terms and were difficult to bully. The fashion oligarchs resented that. Since then, the self-important, the predatory, the pimp agents, the lecherous ones in power – all of them want young women (mainly teen girls) that they can manipulate and control. I don’t doubt the fashion industry is just as bad as Hollywood.
One more thing: this narrative that many of these top models are just built that skinny and have fast metabolisms is mostly bullsh-t. I’ve read too many accounts of former top models saying they starved and smoked to keep weight off so they could book the best jobs.
She is beautiful and a body to die for so that magazine was crazy for turning her away BUT that’s the nature of the beast of modeling. You a judged and rated by how you look and whoever hires you is paying you to be their hangar/mannequin. If you don’t like ppl being harsh and critical of your physique and looks perhaps modeling isn’t the career for you. If it were any other job sure complain but cry me a river Agdal! Before I get ripped for encouraging unhealthy beauty standards I’m a grown ass woman who knows pictures are photoshopped to Hell and literally no one is that perfect. If you have a child, that’s your job to teach them about reality and how magazines work and what they’re selling.
It worries me how much the fashion world really seems to want adult women to look like pre-pubescent boys.
It’s easier for them to control a young woman who is starving. If she is also a teen and naive, even better. (I mean, why else are they hiring 16-year-olds to model clothes that only affluent grown women can afford?) Such a model would be so focused on her diet and weight that she wouldn’t have the physical or mental energy to put up much of a fight. That’s how manipulative the fashion world is.
Good for her! She’s gorgeous and sounds like a great person. Anyone who loves hunting dogs is fantastic in my book, too. lol
Don’t like the top of the dress at all, though. Had it been the same on both sides with the shoulders covered, it would be beautiful. The dippy little covering over her right breast looks like someone made a mistake and sent it out anyway to be worn.
I too appreciate the trend of highlighting all body types in advertising! I’ve been online swimsuit shopping the past month and finally stopped even wanting to order anything because I couldn’t tell how it would look on my body. Then I looked at Jcrew and saw a swimwear model with non-washboard abs and curvier figure and was like YES! OK! Now I can guess how it might look on me.
I think some other website showed the same suit with 3 different body-type models too and it was so helpful! Maybe people will initially buy more clothing that is modeled by traditional model body types but with so many places offering free returns it’s probably smarter for companies to just go ahead and show you how it might actually look on you before you buy.