As a young girl, I was much more preoccupied by my flaws. Everyone teased me because of my long, skinny neck. To hide my so-called deformity, I was wearing a turtleneck when I was 3! Yet my neck is probably my best asset. At the end of the day, what counts is the entire package.

I think it came out of the fact that I'm a very personal person who lives a very public life. It's the only thing that I thought people would want to hear, and it's never about just being inspirational.

The one thing you learn as you get older is that the body will do what the body wants. All you can do is try to guide it a little.

No one is calling any of these designers racist. The act itself is racist. There were more black models working in the Seventies than there are in 2013. This a time when silence is not acceptable at all. If the conversation cannot be had publicly in our industry, then there is something inherently wrong.

The one thing my mother instilled in me, well both my parents but specifically my mother - I come from a Muslim country where boys were more wanted than girls so she always made me feel that there is nothing that I couldn't do as well as the boys if not better.

My saving grace was that I always knew when to leave the party.

If you are an activist, you have to stay active on a daily basis.