Kylie Bisutti reveals how she had the modeling world – and perfect body, at her feet, but gave in all up in favour of her faith.
Her name might not ring a bell, but Kylie Bisutti could have become a multi-millionaire and as famous as supermodels Heidi Klum or Gisele Bundchen.
Instead, she’s chosen the quiet life with her husband in Montana over lingerie shoots, revealing her lifestyle choice in a new book which slams the modelling industry.
I’m No Angel: From Victoria’s Secret Model to Role Model, is Bisutti’s way of spreading the message that “beauty isn’t about what you look like, it’s about what’s in your heart.”
IN PICTURES: Victoria's Secret Angels through the years
Now 23, Bisutti was 19 and happily married when she won a competition to become the new Victoria’s Secret ‘Angel’. The lingerie giant has over 1,000 stores and despite never advertising, enjoys a healthy amount of public attention thanks to its annual catwalk extravaganza and product campaigns starring its hand-picked Angels, who are regularly cited as some of the most beautiful women in the world.
IN PICTURES: Victoria's Secret Models on and off duty
But Bisutti, a devout Christian, was not comfortable with her new, titillating image. “It wasn’t about modeling clothes anymore; I felt like a piece of meat,” she says in an extract from her book, which as been serialized in the New York Post.
In it she lifts the lid on the pressures to lose weight (when her castings once dried up her agent told her it was because she looked like a “fat cow”) and how she was encouraged to play down her marriage in order to behave like a flirt.
The straw which broke the camel’s back came when a photographer kept urging her to pose too provocatively. “This is what Victoria’s Secret models do,” he told her. “This is why they hired you. If you want to be like Gisele, this is what you have to do.”
READ: Karlie Kloss: the newest Victoria’s Secret Angel
She called time on her career via Twitter with the message: “I quit being a VS model to be a Proverbs 31 wife” (Proverbs says ‘Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised’).
Bisutti now channels her energy into speaking tours and her blog, imnoangel.org, which has posts from everything about why she deleted her Facebook profile to tips for getting rid of cellulite.
She also has a ‘Christian clothing line’ in the works, aimed at women of all shapes and sizes.
SEE: Victoria's Secret catwalk show 2012
I’m No Angel: From Victoria’s Secret Model to Role Model is out in the U.S from May 14.
SEE ALSO: Meet The Gorgeous Model Who Could Take Miranda Kerr's Place At Victoria's Secret
Please follow Retail on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
     |