Candice Swanepoel cannot be stopped.
The South African beauty stuns on not one, but two magazine covers this month—Self and Maxim—and gets candid about why being one of the most sought-after models in the industry isn't always as glamorous as it may seem.
"I don't see myself the way other people see me. With all the right hair and makeup and people, it all becomes an art project," she shared in Maxim.
"I look at myself in the third person, because that girl in the pictures isn't me: It's a girl I created to cope with the spotlight. I had to get over a lot of shyness to do this job."
She added that dealing with rejection (not that she's likely to hear much of that nowadays) has only made her stronger over the years.
"It hits so close to home when people reject you…it's why a lot of girls grow a really thick skin, which I had to. So not much gets to me easily."
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The 26-year-old model went completely topless for the men's magazine shoot, and also showed plenty of skin for Self in a black one-piece swimsuit.
Swanepoel dished that in order to feel her best in front of the camera—whether there are a lot of clothes involved or not—she takes her fitness regimen seriously.
"I'm an athlete. I use every single muscle, especially my core and arms, when I pose. It's so important for me to feel strong," she told the fitness mag.
"When I have a show or a specific shoot coming up, I train for it full on, like an athlete would train for a game."
Swanepoel continued, "It used to be that if you had a swim shoot, you'd go away for two weeks and spend the first four days getting a suntan. Now we work 12 hours a day, every day, and I can be on a plane every two days. It's almost like a chess game, where we're the pieces."