Bradley Cooper's ex also opens up about motherhood and the public's obsession with her private life.
Irina Shayk is sharing her thoughts on marriage, motherhood and the fascination surrounding her private life.
The 33-year-old model shines on Harper's Bazaar's summer digital cover, where she poses for stunning pics and is as candid as ever in an interview that was conducted prior to her split from Bradley Cooper but amid breakup rumors.
While it didn't work out with Cooper, Shayk is still optimistic about marriage.
"Everyone looks at it differently," she says. "Do I believe in marriage? Yes, of course. I'm not the kind of person who is against it."
Though marriage doesn't appear to elicit strong feelings from Shayk, relationship etiquette certainly does.
"Nobody's sending letters to anyone anymore," she laments. "I really believe if you go for dinner with somebody, you don't have to send them a text or keep them updated on Instagram message. You freaking pick up the phone, call and say, 'Let's have dinner.'"
As with her romantic relationship, Shayk is tight-lipped about her 2-year-old daughter, Lea de Seine, whom she shares with Cooper.
Though she's quick to offer up general thoughts on motherhood, Shayk, who's already teaching her daughter Russian, doesn't share personal details about her only child, aside from the fact that Lea is named after Shayk's paternal grandmother, Galina -- a woman she says "was one of the strongest women of my life" -- and that her middle name "is the Seine, like the river in Paris."
"There is no real challenge," she tells the magazine of motherhood. "I really believe if you love something, you can prioritize your time. [Motherhood] is just an addition to your life."
"... You have to be really truly yourself for your kids, otherwise you're living in a lie," she adds, before delving into why women think they have to change themselves to be a mom.
"Tell me one reason why, just because you're a mother, you need to wear a longer skirt. No! I don't believe in that. I really don't," she says. "... How is it that people think of this idea? Why should you have to change who you are and how you feel just because you become a mother? I'm like, 'Tell me why. Tell me one reason!' I don't believe in that. I don't understand why."
As for why everyone is so fascinated with her private life to begin with, Shayk reasons, "I think it's just human beings: if you cannot have it, you want to have it. There's a curtain there, you want to open the curtain. It's curiosity I guess."
Shayk, who says she thought she'd pursue a career as a teacher or piano instructor before before being discovered, seems completely comfortable keeping the curtain closed by distancing herself from the digital world, refusing to read online comments and generally focusing solely on her own life and happiness.
"I'm not this stiff model who sits there and wants to look perfect," she says. "I'm not perfect. I have bad skin days and bad hair days. Sometimes I don't look like a model. I'm just a real human being."
"You have to know what you want and you have to stick with your decisions. People will tell you, 'You're too skinny, you're too fat.' You have to learn how to love you and be comfortable in your own skin," Shayk continues. "If you really love you for who you are, I think you can do anything."
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