RR: How did your experience in the modeling industry influence you to co-write the book Be...a Woman? What was your purpose for writing the book?
KM: My experience in modeling and acting for most of my life was, as anyone would guess, that is the most subjective industry in the world. I had gone through so many personal experiences: I had lost my mother, my family had gone bankrupt, my parents split up for a year when I was in third grade and I attended five different schools in that one year. Then I had given birth to my first child, who was whisked away and operated on at a day old and diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.Then my marriage went through some major challenges, we had just had twins, and so much had happened in our life and we were just trying to keep our heads above water.
I was still doing modeling and acting, and I still had a full-time career in marketing and sales as well. People have this misconception that because you look a certain way that you are exempt from any hardships in life. It stuck me as so ironic. It struck me as ironic that women on the cover of magazines, and certainly models and actresses that I knew, were these people that everyone was looking up to. And yet in real life, the people that I looked up to and most people I knew looked up to weren’t models; they were not airbrushed images of anyone. They were our mothers and our grandmothers who had those perfect wrinkles on their faces, and those beautiful rugged hands, and those little sneakers that were so worn. They had been around the world and they knew what they were talking about.
Coming up with the book I wanted to create something I couldn’t find myself when I was going through all those things. Be… A Woman was a book that really celebrated womanhood based on characteristics that define who we are. It featured real women in the pictures. The photographer who collaborated with me was a phenomenal photographer, and captured images of real women that depicted the characteristics that we chose. What it meant to be a woman was to be strong, courageous, resilient, generous, loving, and nurturing - all of those things that we need to get us through life. We don’t need to be sexy or hot; those things don’t carry you through life when life rattles your cage. It was a beautiful book, it sold out and we won’t be reprinting unfortunately. It won an international publishing award; we did really well with it.
RR: What do you feel has been your biggest accomplishment thus far?
KM: Honestly, I think that my biggest accomplishment has been my family. I absolutely adore my three children, and every day I give thanks for them. They are just the most incredible people to watch evolve and grow. My oldest daughter is 11, and she is the one that has CF. She is a powerhouse - brilliant, smart, creative, optimistic and she works hard. She has taught me so much in life about determination and believing in oneself. She and I are spokespeople for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and she does motivational speaking with me and she gets standing ovations. She is phenomenal.
My twins are about to turn eight. They are these happy-go-lucky people that embrace everything in life as an adventure; what a gift that is. Although my husband and I went through some very challenging times, we worked through it and grew through it and we are still together. Where I am at now with my family, and my own personal growth, is really my biggest accomplishments. All the rest is just icing.
Stay tuned for Part 4.
Photo caption: Kim's daughters Elle, Madison, and Ava with Ryan and her friend Erika.
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