Kate Moss has revealed she still experiences emotional trauma from being pressured to pose topless at age 15 for a magazine photoshoot.
The supermodel, now 50, made the candid admission on her friend Bella Freud’s Fashion Neurosis podcast.
She described how she “cried a lot” about having to remove her clothes for The Face magazine in 1990.
“I really didn’t want to do it,” Moss said, speaking about the shoot that helped launch her modelling career.
The photoshoot, taken by the late photographer Corinne Day, took place at Camber Sands in East Sussex.
The images featured a teenage Moss standing in front of the sea wearing only a dark skirt and feathered headdress in some shots, while in others she covered herself with her hands and a sun hat.
Present at the shoot were Day, hairdresser Drew Jarett, and make-up artist Dick Page.
“I would make Drew turn around because he was straight and I was, like, ‘I’m not having him look at me’. I was really shy,” Moss recalled.
She also revealed on the podcast that she was particularly self-conscious about her appearance during early shoots.
“At a very young age, I started doing pictures topless and I was very conscious that I have a mole on my right t*t and I hated it so much I would cry,” she said.
The model described being coerced into continuing such shoots, adding: “I never wanted to be topless.
“I would cry and I had to get over it because the photographer would be, like, ‘If you don’t do this, I’m not going to book you for the next job’.”
The impact of the shoot extended beyond Moss herself, affecting her family relationships.
“I was 15 and topless in a magazine, and I was still in school,” she explained. “Luckily, The Face wasn’t sold in Croydon, so I don’t think anyone really saw it, but they heard.”
Her brother particularly faced mockery from peers, leaving her to explain: “They took the piss out of my brother. ‘Your sister’s got her t**s out.’ I think he probably suffered more than I did about it.”
Despite these difficult early experiences, Moss acknowledged receiving strong support from the fashion industry during later challenges.
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“When I had a bit of scandal, I had so much support from people in the fashion business,” she said, referring to the 2005 incident when she lost a £1million H&M contract following drug allegations.
“[As] soon as I was able to get back to work, I got booked by everybody. They were, like, ‘No we’re not going to let them cancel you’.”