Kate Upton is one of the most successful working models in the industry, so it's no surprise that she's mastered the art of posing. "I now suffer from Catalog Tourette's," the blond bombshell jokes.
Covering V magazine's spring preview issue, the 21-year-old explains, "I can switch a pose like it's no one's business. As soon as I hear a camera click, I'm on. I tell you, it's a serious nervous condition."
If that's the case, it doesn't seem like the Michigan native is in search of a cure.
Upton has graced two Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition covers and been profiled in Vogue and Vanity Fair, but the single star hasn't let success get to her head. How does she remain grounded?
"I don't compare myself with other models," the beauty explains. "For me, modeling is really about competing with yourself, becoming the best you can be." Upton also knows her limits. "The truth is that I can't do facial expressions like [Coco Rocha] and others do. If I pull a goofy face, it doesn't look cute; I look like a dying animal," she admits. "But I guess someone likes what I am doing."
Okay, not everyone. Victoria's Secret Fashion Show director Sophia Neophitou dissed the buxom star in 2012, telling The New York Times that Upton "was like a footballer's wife, with the too-blond hair and that kind of face that anyone with enough money can go out and buy."
Upton is confused as to why someone she'd never met would be so cruel. "You have to remember that I was 19 when she said that, and I had just gotten my cover of Sports Illustrated that day. Literally that day. So it didn't really affect me at first," the model tells V. "But it did in the end, because I wasn't used to that kind of media swirl at all. I had never met her, so it really came out of nowhere. It was my introduction to being in the spotlight and having people you've never met have an opinion of you."
In addition to modeling, Upton is honing her acting skills. She next appears in The Other Woman alongside Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann. The transition from fashion to film was more organic than it might seem, she insists.
"My life isn't as manufactured as people think," Upton says. "I have dreams and I express them. But it's a business and you have to be a good observer if you want to do your job properly."