CHIP MCCAW AND AMBER VALETTQ SERIES

I hadn't caught up to being a big supermodel.' 'Looking back now there's a part of me that wishes I had taken one more year to be a kid at home.' As she rocketed on to the international modelling scene, she says she often felt overwhelmed: 'So much was happening and, although I was street smart, I wasn't worldly smart, I didn't know anything about anything. When Amber was 15, her mother enrolled her in modelling classes and, at 17, she was offered a summer job modelling in Italy. She doesn't specify where her mother went wrong, except to say: 'She made mistakes, she was young and had two kids and no education and was trying to make ends meet.' They're human beings and they tried the best that they could.' Yet a few minutes later she is talking about 'letting go' of trauma in her childhood. I feel blessed that I had such a great childhood with a really strong family.' We had goats and peacocks and a creek that ran through their farm so we had snakes and fish and frogs. She spent weekends and holidays on her grandparents' farm. Valletta's first US Vogue cover was February 1993 Photo: VOGUE I think it was just engrained in me to be a strong woman.' The women are definitely the rock of the family. 'It was pretty scary hearing that your mom got put in jail - but I saw what it meant to fight for something you believe in. Valletta says that she draws much of her strength from her mother, who was a forceful activist, landing herself in jail on one occasion for protesting against a nuclear plant. She waitressed, then started delivering mail for the post office and worked her way up into the corporate part of the post office.' She was broke enough to be taking food stamps but she worked her a- off to keep us in school and to put food on the table. Her parents separated when Amber was two and her mother battled to keep the family afloat. Throughout the day she fuels herself on miniature bottles of ferocious-sounding juice combinations such as 'ginger, lemon, cayenne and echinacea'.īorn in Arizona, Valletta grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and endured a rough childhood. She is very much in control of what is happening around her, suggesting outfits and changes to her make-up, but she is polite and friendly, calling everyone 'honey' or 'girlfriend', and making a point of thanking each person individually, from the photographer's assistant to the hair stylist. At first she is a little clipped and aloof, but she mellows as the day goes on. Her face bears no trace of make-up (at least, before the make-up artist gets to her) but her distinctive pale-green eyes and angular bone structure make her instantly striking. I'd rather spend more on other things, like my garden.' She says that she doesn't spend much on clothing. She arrives at the West Hollywood hotel where our shoot is taking place wearing a vintage white billowy shirt, vintage jeans and brown suede ankle boots from Yves Saint Laurent. Valletta on the runway for Versace in 2000 I love having a little bit more control over my destiny.' 'In acting and modelling I am always part of someone else's vision. It features designers who focus on 'ethical consumerism': 'As a woman who loves fashion but wanted to buy things that were responsibly made, I know that there was nowhere to do it… Eventually I'd like to start my own label, but I wanted to understand the business first.' It is, she says, her most fulfilling role to date.

CHIP MCCAW AND AMBER VALETTQ SERIES

Recently, alongside Sean Bean, she started shooting the new series Legends, a thriller developed by one of the producers behind Homeland and 24.Īnd as if being a supermodel and actress were not enough, she also launched an online store, Master & Muse, in September last year. She has also forged a successful career as an actress, with more than 20 credits, including the film Hitch (2005) and the television drama Revenge (2011-2014). So far she has had 16 American Vogue covers - more than Shalom Harlow and Kate Moss combined - and has appeared on the cover of dozens of other magazines, as well as being the face of Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein and Versace.

Valletta, now 40, is still shooting covers. From that moment on I never stopped working.' I ended up getting a Vogue cover on my first sitting. I'll shoot some beauty on you.' And he did. 'Arthur Elgort was smoking his pipe and said, 'Don't worry, darling.

'I was totally gutted,' Valletta says with a laugh.

Chip mccaw and amber valettq