Former Victoria's Secret Angel Alessandra Ambrosio has opened up about the intense pressure and extreme dieting she endured to prepare for the brand's annual fashion show. The Brazilian model, now 45, recalled returning to the catwalk just three months after giving birth to her first child in 2008, relying on a calorie-restricted meal delivery service to shed the baby weight.
“I only had three months to lose all the weight,” Ambrosio told The Edit. “And I was on this 1,200-calorie-a-day meal-delivery service that I hated. I couldn’t do that again.” She described the pre-show period as stressful, with immense pressure on all models to achieve peak physical condition. “It’s so stressful before the Victoria’s Secret show. There’s so much pressure on us all — not just in terms of shape — and the energy gets sucked out of you.”
Ambrosio also reflected on her teenage years, admitting she would occasionally binge on sweets but learned to control her impulses by recalling the negative consequences. “There were times when I would eat a whole packet of cookies. But then I taught myself not to do that, basically by reminding myself how horrible it felt the last time. Oh, and of course I would lose my job, so that was another incentive.”
The revelations come amid broader scrutiny of the modelling industry's demands. Fellow former Angel Erin Heatherton previously claimed she left the line-up after five years because the pressure to lose weight made her consider not eating. “I was really depressed because I was working so hard and I felt like my body was resisting me,” she wrote. “And I got to a point where one night I got home from a workout and I remember staring at my food and thinking maybe I should just not eat.”
