When I first got Yves Saint Laurent Couture, I didn't know how to take off a cape. I would ask Katoucha and Dalma - the real divas of the runway - 'Can you show me?' I've never been afraid to ask for help.
So when this opportunity came up through Elisabeth Murdoch and her company Shine, to be an executive producer and actually be part of the show, I liked the idea because I like the word mentor. I don't want to judge someone. I like sharing my knowledge with my girls, and anything they ask me I'll try to do to help them. Any of my real friends who know me, know that's how I really am.
Patrick Demarchelier was the one who got me my first Vogue cover. It was French Vogue - I think in ’87 or ’88. I think I was the first black model to be on the cover of French Vogue, which was shocking to me because when I asked them about it, they were like, "Oh, no. We’ve never had that before."
My mum [who has breast cancer] is a fighter. I've got that from her, I know she's a fighter.
I don't like workouts that make you bulky.
The worst was when my skirt fell down to my ankles, but I had on thick tights underneath.
I've never made an excuse of not knowing my father, because I've had great people in my life.
I was born in London and raised in Rome until I was 4. Then we went back to London, where I went to school.
I love mentoring young girls. I've always been like that.
I'm very observant and very instinctive. In life, you have to have the vulnerability to accept when you are to blame. And I do have that and I am open enough to say it.
I trust pictures, but no pictures made in my world - because I know what goes on.
Yes, I did and a lot of my friends who are in the same program as I were very much supportive, and the most important thing they said to me is do not let this interfere with what you have to do in taking car of yourself. That was the most important thing.
Well, in brief, I was discovered by a lady called Beth Boldt. She had also been a model. She used to take pictures of the girls she found, and she took a picture of me one day in my school uniform, and it all kind of started from there.
When I wanted to change the concept of what I was doing, I needed to be more public because it involved more people to collaborate. And I'm doing television now. I have to be honest, I was very afraid to do TV. I said no for 10 years.
I was excited to explore and see the world. I'd been traveling since I was 6 months old, so I was never fearful of getting on a plane and going somewhere - even America.
In fact, I don't read newspapers any longer.
I'm not angry. And I don't like the thing of the 'angry black woman,' either.
I don't mind flying. I always pass out before the plane leaves the ground.
I dream of a world liberated of all diseases. Ignorance also upsets me a lot. How can one calmly look at the pictures from Rwanda and not instantly want to take action and try to ease the suffering?
When I started out modeling, there weren’t casting directors and there weren’t stylists, so you just dealt directly with the designer. We were all much closer back then...
I'm not set on a pedestal where I think I'm too high and mighty.
I do feel that I'm talking to someone who's in a totally different place from where I was when I started modeling. I was fortunate enough to have the wonderful designers and amazing photographers around me, and editors that I knew, and if I wanted to ask a question, I asked them. So that gap has broadened a bit.
Well, when I started modeling in the mid-'80s, the girls who did shows did shows, and the girls who did magazines did magazines. That's what was understood.
I don't work out as much as I should, but I do believe that it's a healthy mind as well as a healthy body that keeps me fit, sound and calm.
I've always been very shy of doing television. I've always said 'no.' Not to be disrespectful to anyone - I didn't want to say 'yes' and then let people down.
