Sports Illustrated model Kate Upton is many a man’s dream girl , but the 21-year-old blonde bombshell says she’s “not here to be used.”
Upton graces the cover of Elle’s September issue, and talked a bit inside about her cult of personality, her religious beliefs, and whether or not she’s actually dating Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
She says that after her first Sports Illustrated cover , she actually felt awful about herself for a month, because she became a target of married or soon-to-be married men.
“I felt like I was their bachelor present or something. I’m not a toy, I’m a human. I’m not here to be used. I am a grown woman, and you need to figure your s— out.”
Interestingly, Upton also seems to be religious. Though she didn’t come right out and say “Yeah, I’m a Christian,” she does have a cross tattoo on her finger and recalled a shoot where she was mocked for a cross necklace she wore.
“I was at a photo shoot and I was wearing a cross necklace that my mom bought me, and somebody made a joke like, ‘Why are you wearing a cross? Like you would be religious.’ And then they took [my necklace] away. I was really affected by that. The whole thing made me realize that I do want [a cross] with me, at all times.”
But, Upton says, that kind of treatment is pretty normal in the industry.
“People deal with models like they are children. They think they can pull one over on you. It’s actually funny. I’m always like, I’m about to pull something on you, and you’re so focused on thinking I’m dumb you’re not even going to know.”
As for Chmerkovskiy, Upton played coy.
“I really have never had a serious relationship in the industry. I’m just having fun. Obviously I have a very busy schedule at this time in my life, and I don’t put relationships as a priority.”
You can check out some photos from Kate Upton’s Elle photoshoot below, and see the rest here .
[Top image: Shutterstock ]