Chrissy Teigen Says She Never Thought of Herself “as a Real Model”

Chrissy Teigen has come a long way from relying on free burritos. 

Today, fans know the 33-year-old star as a standout voice on social media, a host, a model, a cookbook author, John Legend‘s other half and mom to two of the most adorable youngsters on her Instagram feed. However, while life today continues to be peppered with red carpets, A-list friends and luxury getaways, the multi-hyphenate has not forgotten her humble beginnings as an aspiring teenage model. As Teigen put it in a new interview with NET-A-PORTER’s weekly digital magazine, PorterEdit, “it was the least glamorous way to model.”

“I never thought of myself as a real model. I made consistent money working for catalogues and websites, where they didn’t care if your eyes were open or closed, because you didn’t even see my face. I was modeling the back of a shirt with words on it,” Teigen recalled to PorterEdit.

As Teigen recalled to the digital magazine, she moved to Miami Beach, where she lived with five other people in a model apartment with just two bedrooms. “I would sleep on the sofa. We were all just working to break even, just to pay the rent,” she said. “My roommates were drinking diet tea and eating cotton balls soaked in chicken broth to stay skinny.”

Meanwhile, the star relied on a pal’s gig. “I remember my friend got a job working at a burrito restaurant and that’s all I ate for months. Free burritos.”

Suffice to say, Teigen, who landed the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2014 with Nina Agdaland  Lily Aldridge, has come a long way from not having her face shown in magazines. Today, her Instagram account alone, featuring an array of snaps of her and her famous family’s everyday life, has attracted more than 24 million followers. 

And, while the posts can vary from selects of Teigen from a recent photo shoot to videos of her daughter in dance class, the star does have one particular boundary. 

“There’s nothing that happens that we really feel we can’t post,” she told PorterEdit. “We don’t want to post pictures of the kids that they may see in ten years and be embarrassed by, but that’s it. We’re not pretending that life is perfect. I’m not the person who goes to work and posts the glam photos. When I’m on set, I love to be present.”

To see the full interview with Chrissy Teigen, read PorterEdit and/or download the Net-A-Porter app for iPhone, iPad and Android.