My mum [who has breast cancer] is a fighter. I've got that from her, I know she's a fighter.

After Versace was murdered, the first person to call me was Mandela.

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.

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."

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 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.

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.