Kate Upton has discovered the downside of being the sex object du jour, said Jessica Pressler in Elle. The buxom 21-year-old model became internationally famous last year when she appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue, flaunting her curves in a barely there bikini. She immediately found herself inundated with panting suitors—all of them the wrong kind. “After my first Sports Illustrated cover, I felt terrible about myself for a solid month,” she says. “Every single guy I met was either married or about to be married, and I felt like I was their bachelor present or something. I wanted to run up to their wife or fiancée and be like, ‘Divorce him’ or like, ‘Don’t get into this. He’s horrible.’” The experience of being treated like a blond bimbo led Upton to start doubting herself, and her choice of career. “When you go through that s--- every single day for a month, you’re like, ‘What am I portraying? Is that me?’” Eventually, Upton decided that she wasn’t at fault and came up with a prepared statement for such situations: “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.”
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