Daria Werbowy, the cover girl staring back at your this month from the cover of Harper’s Bazaar February 2014, has been modeling for 16 years. Looking at that face, I bet you’re wondering if that means she started when she was five. Seriously, we have no idea how Werbowy does it, but she’s just as stunning now as she was as a 14-year-old model just starting out in this industry.
Here’s a sneak peak at her interview with Harper’s this month, including everything from aging gracefully to keeping her trim physique.
The Canadian beauty of Ukrainian descent, who started modeling at 14, just hit 30. “I actually felt something shift,” she says. “I was so relieved. I was like, I can do and say and be whatever I want now—because I’m 30. There was a lot of surrendering.”
She recently returned to modeling after a self-imposed hiatus. “I took a risk a couple of years ago where I decided to do the minimal amount that I could get away with, because I physically and mentally couldn’t handle it anymore. And it’s like, you have everything you want, what you dreamt of is coming true, you can’t buy anything else to make you happy, so then you think, Well, what else is there? And you have to leave.”
So she did, traveling the globe, and moving to Cork, Ireland, with her carpenter boyfriend. And now that she’s back, it’s on her terms. “I work for a chunk of time, I do everything back-to-back, and then I’m completely off.”
On living in Ireland: “Never in a million years did I think I’d be living there, but I never thought I’d be a successful model either. I never thought I’d fall in love with who I’m in love with.”
On her secret to staying in shape: “Ashtanga yoga. I’m addicted. I stopped drinking, so this is the way life goes. I’m a pretty extreme person—if I say I’m going to sail across the Atlantic, I will.” (And she has, hence the two anchor tattoos on her fingers.)
Photo credit: Daniel Jackson for Harper’s BAZAAR.
