I hated my boobs more than anything as a teen, says Kate Moss

London: Kate Moss, who is an icon of the fashion world and has been a queen of the catwalk for 20 years, was once as self-conscious about her body as most other women, it has been revealed.

The 38-year-old model was just a teenager when she began her life as a model and, referring to an early portfolio picture of herself, she says: “I hated it! Because I was topless again.” “I hated my boobs more than anything as a teenager. I’d do anything not to take my top off,” the Mirror quoted her as saying. “I see nudity as empowering now. Before, I didn’t. I cried for years!” she said. The exceptionally rare interview forms part of a new book called ‘Kate: The Kate Moss Book’ which looks back on her life and work. When she started modelling, Moss lived in Croydon and would shock her mum by going out at midnight in a mini-skirt, T-shirt and Vivienne Westwood “prostitute shoes” to party with friends in London from the age of 15. In clubs she remembers rubbing shoulders with the likes of Boy George, Kylie Minogue and John Galliano. Then as an aspiring model at 16, 5ft 6in Kate appeared on the cover of hip magazine The Face with a photoshoot titled The 3rd Summer of Love. Her work increased, she landed a Calvin Klein deal and was soon doing up to eight catwalk shows a day. After amassing a reported 48-million-pound fortune, she now looks at her skin and body differently. “Well, I am never going to be 18 again, when I could do shoots with no make-up, but it’s not as though I don’t want to have wrinkles, because I think it’s important to have your own face that you live in,” she said. “There are always new ways of looking through new eyes. I still don’t feel I’m done – I’m not finished yet,” she said. She also touched on the topic of allegations about her private life and diet that could have damaged or upset her. In 1993 she was at the forefront of a new look dubbed “heroin chic” that was criticised by US President Bill Clinton and led to claims she was anorexic. “If I was anorexic or if I was on heroin, maybe I would have been a bit more ‘oh dear!’” she said. “But I wasn’t any of those things that they were painting me to be. “It didn’t have anything to do with who I was at all, so I never really thought about it. I just thought, the people who know me know the truth. “I was lucky to be with Johnny at that stage. He taught me a lot about fame. He told me ‘never complain, never explain’. “That’s why I don’t use Twitter and things like that. I don’t want people to know what is true all the time and that’s what keeps the mystery,” she added. ANI