I raised my sister. I was six when she was born. My mother had to make a living for herself and it was very hard, so I was looking after my sister, cooking and cleaning, and she had four jobs.
From Natalia Vodianova
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.
When you become a mother, you think less about yourself and care more about the world.
Finding out I was pretty was a very nice realisation.
As a child I really didn't like men at all, in fact.
I love Yves Saint Laurent and Giambattista Valli and Givenchy, and I get given quite a lot, but perhaps nothing is as wonderful as the white fake leather trench coat I got when I was 15.
I live a very different life now, with incredible privileges, but looking back I realise that growing up in Russia gave me tools that other people don't necessarily have - such as the will to push that bit further, to make things happen, to succeed.
I know what it's like not to have food in the fridge or money to buy more.
I completely admire my mother for raising a child with cerebral palsy at home.
I missed quite a lot of school because I was working from the age of 11.
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