While Elle Macpherson was one of the most famous faces of the ’80s and ’90s, the supermodel says she was never in love with the job.
Macpherson reflected on her career in fashion in an interview on ITV’s “This Morning,” explaining how she “didn’t love modeling but I love what modeling brought me.”
The cover girl, who was nicknamed “The Body” during her heyday, said her favorite part about being in the industry was “creating imagery and producing and art-directing and seeing magic come to life.”
“It’s been a beautiful means to an end for me because I travel, I’m independent and I have had a large scope of a career because of it,” she went on, noting how she initially started modeling to save up for law school.
While she never became an attorney, Macpherson’s career in modeling offered her many other opportunities.
She launched a successful line of lingerie, Elle Macpherson Intimates, in the 1990s and later expanded the brand to make beauty products. In 2014, Macpherson co-founded the health supplement business WelleCo.
After hitting a high point in the modeling world, she branched out into TV hosting and acting, and was even cast as a recurring character on “Friends.”
Stephane Cardinale – Corbis via Getty Images
In 2019, Macpherson remarked on how different modeling in the social media era must be.
“[In the past] the more iconic you were, the more distanced you were from your public, the greater your success,” she told The Daily Telegraph. “Today, the more relatable you are, the more connected you are to your public, the greater your success.”
Macpherson said it was a welcome change, telling the paper how she thinks today’s most successful models “have been the girls that have been willing to get off the pedestal, and come back down to earth, and start working with businesses that really resonate with them.”
“So that they can talk about who they are and what they believe in, in everyday ways, instead of having to be like a rock star,” she explained.