Christina Hendricks’s core values

Christina Hendricks has never taken her beauty very seriously, said Hadley Freeman in the London Guardian. Even in her early 20s, when she was working as a model to pay the bills, she saw the job as a stepping stone. “I met a lot of young girls modeling and they were like, ‘Oh, I’m running around town and people are taking my picture,’ while I was saving receipts and learning how to be self-employed,” says the Mad Men actress. When she was sent an invitation to Johnny Depp’s birthday party, she sold it to pay for groceries. “I was astounded I was invited because I didn’t know him.” Told that the organizers wanted pretty girls there, she reasoned, “‘Well, that doesn’t seem appropriate!’ So I sold it.”

This grounded approach to life proved useful when her modeling agency told her to lose weight. “I thought, well, you might see curves there, but that’s just bone”—she punches her hip as proof—“so even if I lose weight, that’s not going to change anything.” She refused to diet, and now, at 36, she’s celebrated for her figure—not that the attention impresses her much. “It’s very nice, but my husband always says, ‘I told you that years ago!’”

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