My Diva Moment

Okay, I'll be the first one to tell you that I'm not perfect and that I make mistakes just as anyone else--despite how long I've been modeling. I try to practice what I preach and I thought it would be fun to share the one time I ever acted like a model diva. I'm definitely not proud of it but that just goes to show that throwing a tantrum is human nature and that it happens to the best of us. The key is to not let it become a part of your modeling career...

I was set to shoot on location for my 2007 calendar. The crew consisted of myself, my photographer, my stylist and my photographer's mother's boyfriend, who brought the motorcycle we were set to use.

I was a little stressed because we were working on a time limit. The shot we needed with the motorcycle was to be taken at dusk, which is basically the time when the sun is setting. All of the outfits and camera gear were packed in the cars and ready to go. To add to the pressure, not only were we trying to catch up with the last rays of sunlight, we also had to get the right shot with enough time to head to another location for a different look. The second shot was to be taken at an athletics club, and the manager told me I had a very tight window of time to use the facility's basketball court. If I got there too late and there were people using the court, I was out of luck...and we would only have less than two hours to get the shot before the club closed.

My stylist and I were about to head out of the door when I realized that I couldn't find my white heels that went with the white swimsuit I was using for the motorcycle shot. Not trying to panic, I checked everywhere in my house: my bedroom closet, the downstairs bedroom closet, the shoe closet...nothing. I got very pissed very quickly because 1) I only wore those heels during shoots so they wouldn't have been anywhere else except the places I looked, 2) There were no other white heels that went with my outfit, 3) The longer I searched, the more time I was wasting.

My stylist (who is also my best guy friend) suggested that I try wearing different shoes. I insisted that only white heels would match a white swimsuit and that I didn't want to look stupid wearing mismatched colors that anyone who bought my calendar would be able to point out. My stylist grabbed a pair of gold heels and asked me what I thought about using those instead. Without even realizing how horrible my tone was, I snapped, "IT DOESN'T MATCH!" And went back to searching for my shoes. Luckily, because he is my best friend, he didn't take my words personally and continued to help me search.

Something told me to go into the garage to look and after throwing around some stuff, I found my white heels stuffed neatly into a shoebox. Apparently, my mom decided to relocate them without telling me. It was so funny because just seconds before, I was seeing red and once I found my shoes, everything was sunny and bright. I immediately apologized to my stylist and the rest of the people who were waiting.

Thankfully, we ended up getting the shot with the motorcycle:



And we also managed to get the basketball shot with plenty of time to spare:



It only took that one "diva" moment for me to realize that that was not the type of model I wanted to be and it isn't something that any good model should include in their personality.