Before I left Russia in 1999, I was living in a very poor factory town with my family and friends, and nothing was ever going to change.

You cannot leave the house to take the garbage out without full-on makeup and your hair done. You have to fight for your man out there.

After pregnancy, the important thing is rebuilding your back muscles.

If you are ambitious you can have a moment of glory but it will most likely be temporary. But talent always finds its way out.

I know what it's like not to have food in the fridge or money to buy more.

When I work as a model, it feels like holiday. Doing a shoot is so light in a way that it's really a good break from being a mother or running a charitable organization and other philanthropic projects that I'm really passionate about.

I completely admire my mother for raising a child with cerebral palsy at home.