Model Toni Garrn (34) was already posing for fashion photographers at the age of 15. She built her successful international career even though she was 'defiant,' explains the 34-year-old, who hails from Hamburg, in the current issue of the weekly newspaper 'Die Zeit.'
Recalling the castings at modeling agencies, she said in the interview: 'The situation was always terrible. You stand there half undressed, then someone comes with a measuring tape and says: "Your hips are too wide, honey." I'm taller than most, so of course my hips are two centimeters wider.'
The agents were the bad guys in her eyes back then, she added: 'If my daughter experienced something like that, I would tell her: Ignore 90 percent of that nonsense.' She herself 'succeeded even though I was defiant,' she says.
'Most of the time I bought myself ice cream after those appointments at the agency. After a year and a half, I refused to be measured. I thought to myself, the companies will book me anyway.' However, she could afford that attitude because she didn't have to earn money, Garrn says: 'I could have stopped at any time to study and would have been financially supported by my parents. For me, it was just fun.'
'Every model experiences some stress when it comes to weight'
However, Garrn, who still models as a mother of a five-year-old daughter and as an entrepreneur, cannot completely free herself from the fixation on body and weight. When asked if she has always been healthy, she answers in the 'Zeit' interview: 'What does healthy mean? Everyone is a little sick sometimes. When does someone become sick? I think every model experiences some stress when it comes to weight.'
She had to adapt to the industry's customs: 'Since I was 14, I can no longer eat everything I want.' Otherwise, she would 'eat cake all day long.'
Headlines after appearance at French Open
Toni Garrn's child is from her relationship with actor Alex Pettyfer (36). The former couple married in 2020 and had their daughter together in July 2021. In 2023, Garrn made the separation public. There have been recent headlines again about the 34-year-old's love life, who had a relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio (51) from 2013 to 2014.
At the French Open in Paris, she appeared a few weeks ago with a new man by her side. She watched a match in the French capital together with Jeremy Steeb.
