Abbey Lee Kershaw Interview on Modeling and Acting

Lee walking in the Chanel fall 2011 show

Even now, she recognizes what a blessing it was to have made the money that comes with all the work; she called being paid a reported $100,000 for a Chanel campaign "the only thing that's fantastic about being a model. That it's given me the sort of freedom I would never have had. I'm financially stable for a long time, I don't have to worry and I'm really grateful for that."

And while the money is nothing to sneeze at, it was the industry's attention to looks that might have finally pushed her into the acting space. "You are so disposable as a model, there is no security in it, and you don't really believe people actually care about you. If I wasn't a hot flavor anymore, I was going to lose work." In an earlier interview, she told a reporter "they shoot models after they're 29."

Lee in Victoria's Secret's 2009 runway show

Her acting work has gotten good reviews, making it seem like a professional fit for the former catwalker. She's got The Neon Demon out next where, interestingly, she plays a former model whose glory days are behind her. The one role we aren't likely to see her inhabiting? The cute, sexy girlfriend. "I don't have interest in being in rom coms or playing just an average girl next door," she told The Sydney Morning Herald. "To be honest, I'd rather not waste my time."

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