Alek Wek: Models' Attitude To Food Is All Wrong

The modeling industry's relationship with food is a fraught one, as we know all too well from recent crazy diet stories.

By restricting food and cutting calories, models have it all wrong, says Alek Wek.

Wek, a veteran runway model now residing in the US, was raised in Southern Sudan, where hunger is a widespread problem. So when she found herself thrust into the modeling world, she was shocked by what she saw.

"In this world," Wek tells the Daily Beast, "I found many people were hungry too, but for different reasons. They wanted their bodies to look a certain way, whether their bodies were meant to or not. They chose not to eat."

Wek's perspective is unique, given her background: in the 1980s, she fled civil war in Sudan and settled as a refugee in London... only to find herself an Elle cover girl just a few years later. Despite ascending to fashion's highest heights, her outlook remains firmly rooted in her past and her experiences. She tells the Daily Beast:

"In restaurants in my Brooklyn neighborhood, I always ask for a doggie bag, to bring the leftovers home. My ex-boyfriend suggested more than once that I cut this out, as he found it embarrassing. (Perhaps that's why he is no longer my boyfriend.) I told him, 'What's embarrassing is that I should have so much more than others.'"

It's a refreshing dose of common sense in a world where unreasonable expectations -- and whatever it takes to meet them-- often seem to trump all.

Wek has previously used her level-headed voice to speak out about refugees. In July, she attended the first-ever Refugee Congress in Washington, D.C., where refugees from all ove the world told their stories and offered suggestions for American policies.

"The most humbling thing fashion has given me is a voice, and I hope to use that for other refugees," she said back in August. Now she's using it to speak out about hunger -- the kind in Sudan and the kind in the fashion world.

Read more at TheDailyBeast.com.

Comments

[Lauren Kottwitz]

08:41 PM on 12/14/2011

Damn, she's gorgeous.

[Parker Gabriel]

04:32 PM on 12/14/2011

I applauded Ms. Wek for her courage to call modeling's bluff on that point.

[nermz345]

04:05 PM on 12/14/2011

here is my issue with HP and not the actual article on the daily beast. whoever wrote this takes alex wek's article as told to by abigail pesta (which is actually more about her personal experience with hunger), and then selectively edits and adds it so that it seems like a commentary on the modeling industry. there is like a blip about the modeling industry. the actual article is more interesting to read.

[RemoveTheGreedyOnes]

05:26 PM on 12/04/2011

Good to hear that there is some common sense and humility left in the modeling world...

[MsLMPride]

01:47 PM on 12/04/2011

A beautiful woman--outside and within.

[BSlimGoody H]

02:17 PM on 12/03/2011

"I always ask for a doggie bag, to bring the leftovers home. My ex-boyfriend suggested more than once that I cut this out, as he found it embarrassing. (Perhaps that's why he is no longer my boyfriend.) I told him, 'What's embarrassing is that I should have so much more than others.'" LOL. REAL TALK. Just decided that I adore her!

[lefty81]

11:15 AM on 12/03/2011

Alek,

Thank you for being real, and telling it like it is!!!!!

[kel347]

03:34 AM on 12/03/2011

She really is a great lady. Modeling hasn't gone to her head in a presumptuous way.

[oakmama11]

01:39 AM on 12/03/2011

What is she trying to say??? Is she saying that she eats "normally" (whatever that means in America) and has a body that looks like that? Is she saying that other supermodels should eat like her, get their "regular" body (whatever their body looks like without dieting and exercising obsessively) and still be able to keep their job walking and posing for a ridiculous amount of money? This comes across as inauthentic to me. I would have more respect for her if she said "I've spent years dieting, fasting, restricting calories, exercising obsessively, taking diet pills all in the interest of hoarding money and now I'm realizing how selfish that was . . . especially when I look at young victims of famine. I'm going to work on loving my own body." But no. She's perfect and it's everyone else's fault. Booo!

[emperance]

03:14 PM on 12/03/2011

Totally agree.

[OnandUpwards2011]

02:56 PM on 12/04/2011

Sounds like you're just taking her words out of context and making no effort to understand what she's talking about.

She obviously has a high metabolism and has been able to eat in moderation and maintain her weight.

The size 0 phenomenom is big in fashion and models are starving themselves to stay thin. You can remain slim and eat in moderation. You just have to exercise....and you know what, I got that from just putting her words in context....smh

[oakmama11]

10:07 PM on 12/04/2011

or maybe YOU are taking her words out of context or being really generous in her interpretation. I'm sure she does have a high metabolism. And other women that don't have a high metabolism also want to make a lot of money doing the same work that she does and she's making a judgement about them. That to me seems unfair.

[Astro Girl]

07:04 PM on 12/01/2011

People do what will their life easier,from starving to be skinny to nose job to fit society's standard of beauty.

The real issue is why society is so obsessed with telling women what they should look like.

[emperance]

03:15 PM on 12/03/2011

Why ask why?

People are obsessed with beautiful women.
SHOCKING, isn't it.

[OnandUpwards2011]

02:58 PM on 12/04/2011

Depends on what you define as beautiful...I think that is the original point.

[OnandUpwards2011]

02:57 PM on 12/04/2011

Or why women choose to conform to society's standards of what is acceptable.

[Nasusgirl]

03:41 PM on 12/01/2011

I wish she were on Wall Street

[belldn3]

02:41 PM on 12/01/2011

Living off ice cubes and cocaine is a strange diet for anyone. Someone introduce them to a cheeseburger. Hell, go all out a buy them a combo meal.

[emperance]

03:16 PM on 12/03/2011

All fast food joints should be closed down - IMO.

[ycr]

01:09 PM on 12/01/2011

I never saw her before. Nice to see a model that is not a typical victoria secret model. She has a fresh and beautiful look about her.

[emperance]

03:16 PM on 12/03/2011

This woman has been around for years.

[ycr]

05:20 PM on 12/04/2011

not into fashion mags mucn.

[psandysdad]

12:54 PM on 12/01/2011

Ummm.....was this article about anything? People from S-Sudan don't like to waste food. Big surprise with famine an ever present threat.

[wwhitfie81]

03:08 PM on 12/01/2011

And that's the sound of someone missing the point. Spoiler alert: The article was drawing a comparison to both starvation with models and people in the Sudan. One, models, result to starving themselves regardless of whether their bodies need nurishment, whereas, people in the Sudan would love to not live in famine, and have to because they have no choice. Anyway, the article was about something.

[JC2009USA]

12:31 PM on 12/01/2011

Oh my gosh...a model with a working brain...can think, can reason, and has some common sense...I like this girl...her beauty is apparently more than skin deep!