How are you?
Good!I am very happy.I am enjoying life.
From the well deserved vacation with my boyfriend on Cuba,the sailing trip I had with my dad yesterday on the Frisian lakes,and from the places I go to for my work.
I really try to enjoy those things,and get happy by them.
Has that been any different?
When I just started modelling,I had a tough time.
I was a bit down,and was ubelievably home sick.
At one moment I just turned the button.
I was on a beach between the palmtrees for a photoshoot when my eyes just opened.
I was thinking:I'm not going to sit here crying beacause I want to go to Friesland.
I am going to enjoy it, otherwise I should just quit and go back to school again.
Look, being home sick is never going to dissapear.
I have a strong connection to Friesland and with my parents, but I have found my own way.
I often go home for the weekends.I really invest in that.
When I am at the check in counter in New York,I get happy.
It may be expensive,but I stay positive that way, and I can model with pleasure.
It has been four years since Doutzen sent her vacation pictures to paparazzi models.
She had seen the pretty pictures and was wondering if she could ever be on a picture like that.
Owner Sarah Keller got goosebumps when she saw the eighteen year old on the station in Amsterdam.
Doutzen moved to New York,but she had some problems in the beggining(people at the casting told her she was too pretty)But after two years her career went very fast.
Doutzen:"I really believe that this happened beacuse i turned the button.
People see my luck and my confidence.
Now she is the face of big brands like L'oreal Paris, Calvin Klein and Victoria's secret,she is also on the fifth place on the forbes list with the best paid models.
What is it like when people like Mario Testino and Anna Wintour praise you?
Ofcourse it's nice, but I learned to always ask myself how much that person means to me when he/she gives me a compliment or when i get rejected.And that tells me how serious I should take it.
It's a big difference to me when my dad and mom praise me or when Anna wintour praises me.
Anna isn't worth any more to me beacuse she has a lot of power in the fashion world.
The opinion of my parents is more important to me.
But ofcourse that doesn't take away the fact that I have a lot of respect for Anna.
But if my best friend tells me how proud she is with what I'm doing, I think that's fantastic.
When Anna Wintour tells me something like that,I don't know if she means it, she isn't close enough to me to know such a thing.
Do you follow your feelings?
"With my job it can be hard sometimes.Because my feelings say that I shouldn't do something,But then my mind comes arround the corner and I'm thinking:It is about a lot of money.Or:When I don't do this I won't get to do that other thing.
For example fur.I would never wear fur in my personal life,but if it's for a artistic editorial in a magazine,with vintage fur,it feels different to me.
When it comes to people,I totally trust my feelings.With men I feel it directly when their meanings aren't clear.
Or with make-up artists,They come very close to you,and touch you.
Sometimes I get a really weird feeling from that.And then that person says some weird things at the end of the day-also about other people-and then I'm happy i didn't tell my whole life story.
But it's not that I close myself from them;I'm very open in life.If something doesn't feel right ,then I'm careful.
But if I feel comfortable ,I can be very funny."
Wat is the biggest misconception about you
"That i'm naive and very sweet.I'm nice and treat everyone with respect.But I know what happens around me."
How confident are you?
"I try to be very confident en to let that shine through.But just like every other women I'm not always happy with what I see in the mirror.There is always something that can be better.
But I try to focus on the things I do like.I always leave the house with a positive feeling.
Inside i'm very confident.I'm happy with the way I stand in life,with how I feel,with how much respect I have for others.That is where I get my satisfaction from.From being happy and wishing everbody happines.
Progressive and modern.That's how Doutzen says her upbringing in the Frysian village Eastermar was.
"Two years ago I read the book The secret and for me that was a party of recognizing.
That's the way I was brought up.My parents always let me and my sister do our own thing,they believed in us."They weren't a standard country side family."When I see how my parents brought us up...With homeopathic medicine en biologic food for example.That may be a hype now .but when I went to school with my sandwiches with Tahini and honey,the kids in my class were looking weird."
Doutzens friends liked to go to the house of the family Kroes."Everybody liked my parents .We didn't feel stupid or young with them.They really listened to us and we just joined the grownup conversations.
That was different at the homes of my friends."While they flew each other in the hair when they were younger,now Doutzen and her two year younger sister Rens are very close.
"We have nice conversations,and we like to be around each other.
In Friesland they call you 'us Doutzen(our Doutzen)How does your sister experience that?
"My sister Rens handels that very well.She is proud of me and I'm proud of her.
When we were kids we were very different.She was the girly girl and I was the tomboy."
Doutzen was a real tomboy.Always wearing a cap,her hair in a ponytail,building treehouses,and very busy with nature."Barbies weren't for me, I just asked a trucker for Sinterklaas.which was big amusement for the boys in my class.
Were you the prettiest girl in your class?
"That's hard to say."she laughs"I saw some pictures and I definately had my own style.I wouldn't leave the house without socks over my pants.It was really bad,but I''m glad my mom just let me have my way.
I wasn't interrested in appearance at all.I do remember that a boy in the swimming pool said to me:you will be a very pretty girl when you grow up.Maybe guys have always seen it.I used to hang around with the guys a lot,but i never realized that it was because of how I looked.
I also didn't wanted to go to my end of the year party from the havo.I just didn't feel like wearing a dress and getting made up.I never wanted to go out .My mom would ride past the disco were my niece would go out and I would think:glad I'm not there.I always saw my future very different.In a cabin on the heathland,all alone,and surrounded by animals."
But do you feel at home in New york then?
"When I started modelling my parents said :'Doutzen,enjoy it.And realize the house in Eastermar where you grew up will always be there.You can always come back,whatever happens."
With that in my mind i can feel at home everywhere."
How did modelling changed you personally?
"I have learned so much of travelling.I've gotten more independent,I've got knowledge in people,and can enjoy more things.Some time ago I barrowed a BMWX5.but I couldn't get my mom in.She is more ashamed then proud of the attention that you get in such a car.I just enjoy it.But I do recognize the feeling my mom has.For a very long time I felt guilty beacuse I made so much money with how I look.
But I've learned to switch it over to sometjing positive.People want to listen to me,beacause I'm more known.It's a good way for me to ask attention for charities."
She still has her down to earth personality.Eating healthy and a lot of working out no problem,but she has never let people talk her into a size zero."Models need to be thinner than the average woman,but being to thin isn't goods.I pay a lot oh attention to my health.I want to look the best for myself,and want to feel good in my body."Because of her feminine curves Doutzen got a contracht with lingery giant Victoria's secret.
How happy are you with your curves?
"It depends from the jobs.When you're doing Victoria's secret it is a must,but with some jobs the difference between me and the other girls is very big.But I'm proud of it myself.Curves belong to a woman.Sometimes I worry about the example the fashion world gives.I also leave the house without make-up more often so woman can identificate themselfs with me.Because I can also look tired and i too have hips.
