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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...

-Naomi Campbell

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When I Started Out

Naomi Campbell

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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...

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More From Naomi Campbell

I Look At Modeling As Something I'm Doing For Black People In General.

I Think It's Always Good To Learn A Craft From Scratch The Real Way, So That You've Learned It From The Basis, The Raw Bones, And Then You Have That To Fall Back On. I Personally Wouldn't Want It Any Other Way.

I'm Not Set On A Pedestal Where I Think I'm Too High And Mighty.

I Started This Charity, Fashion For Relief, In 2005, After Hurricane Katrina Happened. New Orleans Was Actually The First Place I Visited In The United States. It Was One Of My First Big Jobs, A Shoot For British Elle. It Was April 14, 1986.

I've Never Known My Real Father, And I've Never Looked For A Father Figure In A Boyfriend, But I Suppose I Have Looked For Real Father Figures In My Life - And I've Acquired More Than One. I Certainly Couldn't Ask For Better Ones. I Love Them Enormously - And They Know That.

The Chocolate And Crisps Come In At Times. You Have To Allow The Little Things That Make You Happy. I'm Not Extreme About What I Eat.

Nothing's Ever Come Easy To Me And Nothing Ever Will And That's Okay. I'm Used To That. I Go With The Challenges. I Roll With The Punches.

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.

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.

The Worst Was When My Skirt Fell Down To My Ankles, But I Had On Thick Tights Underneath.

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.

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.

After Versace Was Murdered, The First Person To Call Me Was Mandela.

In Fact, I Don't Read Newspapers Any Longer.

What Makes A Person Is The Ability To Look At Themselves And Deal With Their Own Lives.

I'm Always Trying To Do The Impossible To Please People. It Comes From Not Being Secure In Myself And Not Looking At The Things Within I Have To Fix. Sometimes You Keep Going Because You Don't Want To Face The Truth.

I'm Not Going To Wallow In Self-pity And Not Live My Life. There Are Always Going To Be Some Falls In Life For Everybody, No Matter What Career You Have. You Have To Roll With The Punches And Keep Going.

I've Never Had A Fear Of Traveling And Going To A New Place. I Adapt.

I Cannot Drink Or Do Anything That Changes The Mind.

I Don't Get Depressed. When I Feel An Attack, I Withdraw. I Disappear, I Replenish, And Then I Come Back.

The Word Reality Scared Me. I Just Looked At Reality As Everybody Follows Me Around With A Camera, And I'm Not That Kind Of Person. I Fought For My Privacy In England. And I Didn't See Another Way It Could Be Done.

Gluttony? I Could Eat And Eat And Eat And Eat And Eat. I'd Love To Pig Out On Gluten. I Mean, I'm Allergic To Gluten, But I Really Want To Do That. I Want To Sit In Bed One Day And Just Pig Out.

I Never Diet. I Smoke. I Drink Now And Then. I Never Work Out.

I'm Happy With The Way I Did My Career, I Wouldn't Change It In A Million Years. I Got To Do The Real Grafting And Learning From Real Models When I Was Younger - How To Open Up A Jacket, Walk, And Such.

I Don't Think I Was Born Beautiful. I Just Think I Was Born Me.

I Love Mentoring Young Girls. I've Always Been Like That.

I Don't Worry About A Number. I'm Fine With Aging.

You Better Check Your Lipstick Before You Come And Talk To Me.

I Loved Watching So Many Of The Great Designers I've Worked With Do What They Do. That's Why I'm Still Loyal To The Designers That I've Known Since I Was 16.

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.

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.

I'm Determined, And I'm Passionate And Driven About Whatever I Commit Myself To Do. If I Don't Know Something, I'm Going To Ask, And I've Got No Problems In Asking Questions. I Never Have. People Ask Me, "are You Nervous When You Go On The Runway? You Don't Look It." Yes, I Am.

Asking Questions

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 Don't Like Workouts That Make You Bulky.

Children Are Our Future We Must Take Care Of Them With Maximum Effort.

In Charity, Every Little Bit Works. You Can't Change The World. You Can't Do Everything. But You Sure Try To Bring Awareness And Do As Much As You Can.

If You Have To Talk To More Than Three People About The Same Problem, You Don't Want Help, You Want Attention.

I Love England, Especially The Food. There's Nothing I Like More Than A Lovely Bowl Of Pasta.

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 Have No Regrets. I've Got My Health.

Have No Regrets

Feeling Passionate About Something Doesn't Mean You Have To Be Angry.

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.

It's A New Challenge To See How People Can Change Your Look. I Like Words Like Transformation, Reinvention, And Chameleon. Because One Word I Don't Like Is Predictable.

I Live My Life Day By Day, And That's How I Continue To Live It.

I've Never Made An Excuse Of Not Knowing My Father, Because I've Had Great People In My Life.

I Trust Pictures, But No Pictures Made In My World - Because I Know What Goes On.

Look, You Have To Make Mistakes. That's How You Learn And That's How The World Works.

Making Mistakes

You See All Races In Music, And In Dance And Theatre, So Why Can't We See It In Fashion?

Anger Is A Manifestation Of A Deeper Issue... And That, For Me, Is Based On Insecurity, Self-esteem And Loneliness.

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.

Everyone Has A Temper. A Temper Is An Emotion.

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."

No One Should Ever Be Ashamed Of Going To Meetings. It's Healthy, It's Therapeutic And It's The Right Way To Live.

I Make A Lot Of Money, But I Don't Want To Talk About That.

My Mum [who Has Breast Cancer] Is A Fighter. I've Got That From Her, I Know She's A Fighter.

There Is Only Going To Be One Kate Moss. Kate Is An Icon.

I've Been Doing My Job Well For 17 Years. People Must See Something In Me. Otherwise, I'd Be Over And Out.

I Make Many Mistakes. Many Mistakes. I'm Not A Perfect Human Being. I Have To Learn From My Mistakes. And A Lot Of The Ones I've Made Have Been Public. So I Always Get Nervous When People Speak About Something That Sounds Like A Role Model, Because I Don't Know If I've Been A Great Role Model Myself.

I’ve Been Offered Jobs By Companies That Supported Apartheid Many Times In The 25 Years Of My Modeling Career, But I Have Never Taken One Of Them. I Have To Refuse That Money, Because I’m Not Going To Work Against My People. They’ve Suffered Enough.

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 Don't Always Wear Underwear. When I'm In The Heat, Especially, I Can't Wear It. Like, If I'm Wearing A Flower Dress, Why Do I Have To Wear Underwear?

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.

My Features Are Completely Ethnic.

I'm Not Angry. And I Don't Like The Thing Of The 'angry Black Woman,' Either.

Life's Too Short To Bullshit.

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 Like To Control Everything, And You Cannot Control Everything. You Have To At Some Point Say, 'i Let Go And I'm Going To Let The Cards Fall Where They Fall... For A #‎ Controlfreak , It's Hard.

I Don't Mind Flying. I Always Pass Out Before The Plane Leaves The Ground.

I Work Very Hard And I'm Worth Every Cent.

I Do Want Someone, Need Someone. You're Right. And, When I'm With You, I Feel Like I'm A Better Person. I Feel Happier. Less Alone, Less Lonely. But It's Not As Simple As That, Is It? Being With Someone?

[castro Is] A Source Of Inspiration To The World.

If I'm Wearing A Flower Dress, Why Do I Have To Wear Underwear?

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?

I Was Always Told To Avoid Being Famous Just For Being Famous. That's Something That Has Always Stuck In My Mind. I Like To Work. It Helps If You Like What You Do.

Am I Bossy? Absolutely. I Don't Like To Lose, And If I'm Told 'no', Then I Find Another Way To Get My 'yes.'

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