Elle Macpherson is known as Australia’s golden girl when it comes to modelling, but there were times when she was prone to jealousy as well.
The model described being envious of fellow supermodel and then-roommate, Czech model Paulina Porizkova, for the widespread fame she attained for being on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine in the ’80s.
“Well, the first year we came to Australia and I had this fantasy that I was going to be on the cover because I was doing Sports Illustrated and that’s what I did well, I did bathing suits and we were in Australia. And so of course you’ve got to put an Australian girl on the cover in Australia,” Macpherson, 60, explained to Jess Rowe on the latter’s podcast, The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show.
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“But Paulina Porizkova, who was my roommate at the time, got the cover that year. And I was really bitterly disappointed because I wanted what Paulina had. And Paulina had a sort of recognition through being on the cover of Sports Illustrated and she had a sort of, a freedom that I longed for and it came from being successful, well known and financially independent and I wanted what she had,” she continued.
But she didn’t let jealousy get the best of her, instead deciding to use it to fuel her career even further.
“And so by the next year, I was like, ‘this year I’m getting it’ and I prepared. And of course, sure enough, I got the cover,” she shared.
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“But it wasn’t just sort of a given that, ‘Yeah. You’re Aussie, you’re going to Australia, you’re going to be on the cover’,” she clarified.
Rowe added, “You made it happen. You worked hard. You recognised early on, this is what I want and this is what I need to do to make this happen.”
Macpherson went on to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated a record five times – in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1994, and 2006 – which helped garner exposure and bolster her career.
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