Victoria's Secret model Cameron Russell is tall, slim and naturally beautiful. Instead of being happy about winning the genetic lottery, the 25-year-old brunette stunner feels guilty for promoting an impossible beauty standard that most women fall short of.
"I've never personally been anorexic," Cameron told Nightline March 28. "I'm not promoting anything totally unhealthy because I'm not unhealthy. But I am promoting an ideal that's not attainable, and for that I have to feel guilty. I have to assume some blame for that."
Russell, who was one of a handful of models selected to walk the runway at the 2012 Victoria's Secret fashion show, says she and models like her promote a standard of physical beauty that few women can ever hope to attain.
"For the past few centuries we have defined beauty not just as health and youth and symmetry that we're biologically programmed to admire, but also as tall, slender figures," says Cameron. "And this is a legacy that was built for me, and it's a legacy that I've been cashing out on."
Russell, who doesn't diet or work out, is grateful that she has a lucrative career based on her natural beauty, but says becoming a model isn't a path that young girls should aspire to.
"Saying that you want to be a model when you grow up is akin to saying that you want to win the Powerball when you grow up," says the leggy 5-foot-10 Cameron. "It's out of your control and it's awesome, but it's not a career path.
"A ton of little girls I talk to, they want to be actresses or singers or models. But it requires a genetic lottery win, really. And just a lot of luck. Don't aspire to be a model. It's not something you have control over."
Instead of focusing on one's looks, Russell, an alum of Columbia University, says little girls should aspire to be smart and accomplished in areas that don't place such a disproportionate emphasis on something fleeting like youth or beauty.
While her good looks have made her moderately rich and famous, Cameron says beauty is no guarantee of happiness or self-acceptance.
"If you ever are wondering, 'If I had thinner thighs and shinier hair, will I be happier?' you just need to meet a group of models," she says. "Because they have the thinnest thighs and the shiniest hair and the coolest clothes, and they are the most physically insecure women, probably, on the planet."
Russell says society needs to get over its beauty obsession and learn to appreciate intelligence and genuine achievement.
"Because I'm a model, because I've been in magazines looking a certain way, there are certain people who are interested in hearing what I have to say," she says. "And I think that's fairly superficial. I'm quite young. I don't have an impressive resume.
"We can't just pay attention to women who look fantastic in a photograph, because there are a lot of people that have fantastic things to say that don't look like 25-year-old white models."
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