Model Alessandra Ambrosio on baby weight, feminism, Playboy - Los Angeles Times
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Model Alessandra Ambrosio on baby weight, feminism, Playboy

Alessandra Ambrosio, a Victoria's Secret Angel model, opens up about weight, feminism and plastic surgery in Net-a-Porter's The Edit.
(Craig Barritt / Getty Images)
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Alessandra Ambrosio is having a pretty great year.

Just after the broadcast of the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show last week, the supermodel has landed a feature interview in Net-a-Porter’s The Edit. Yes, interview, with words. Not just photos of her enviable body.

“I feel like my job is to be this beautiful girl who sells clothes,†the 32-year-old told the e-magazine. “And there are good things about this career: You’re inspiring people, making them feel good about themselves. Clothes are something that elevate every woman’s mood.â€

PHOTOS: 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion ShowThe Brazilian beauty also said she considers herself “a little bit†of a feminist. (This is the part where we raise our eyebrows and say, “Really?â€). Apparently, she came “from a family where women are very strong. They rule the house and I’m the same.â€

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Indeed, she also has her sights set on things beyond modeling. Ambrosio, who has been engaged to businessman Jamie Mazur since 2008, is also launching her own brand (a la top-earning former angels Gisele Bundchen and Miranda Kerr), called Alé by Alessandra that will include clothing, fragrance and accessories.

“Hopefully, one day I’ll have an empire,†Ambrosio said. “When I started modeling at 15, after modeling school, I thought it would all be over for me by 19, but that’s just not the case anymore.â€

The model, who became a Victoria’s Secret Angel at age 22, also talked parenthood and her struggle to lose the baby weight after having her first child, daughter Anja, five years ago before prepping to walk in the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

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PHOTOS: Backstage at the 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show“I knew that I had the show to do after having [Anja] -- and actually I was expecting my body to go back quicker,†she said. “People kept telling me that I would bounce back straight away, but a week after giving birth I still had that balloon belly. It was the first time in my life that I had to diet.â€

Oh, the horror.

Ambrosio told the mag that she gained 60 pounds when she was pregnant with her daughter and started seeing a trainer six times a week and signed up for a calorie-controlled meal delivery service.

“It was 1,500 calories a day as I was breastfeeding,†she said.

PHOTOS: 50 most beautiful female celebrities

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Over the weekend, the mother of two took her children -- Anja, 5, and Noah, 19 months -- to see Santa.

“Papai Noel,†the 5-foot-9 model captioned a shot of her daughter greeting St. Nick and her son getting ready to do the same.

“#Christmas funnn with my girls @anabbofficial @ludidelfino #nutcracker,†she also wrote on Instagram, captioning a photo of them with a costumed Nutcracker.

All this wholesome family fun makes us wonder how her family reacts to her skimpy Victoria’s Secret shoots. But it turns out, her parents have no problem with them.

PHOTOS: The celebrity parenting handbook

“Brazil is a very sexual country,†she said. “Women are always showing their boobs and butts on the beach. And I’ve been careful: Even if I did Playboy, I wouldn’t want to do something that looks vulgar.â€

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But will she ever model for Hugh Hefner’s mag?

“I would have to discuss it with my family and make sure it was artistic,†she said. “Cindy Crawford and Stephanie Seymour did it and they made me want to model. It’s funny how casual you become about [your breasts] after children. I mean, you breast-feed in front of your parents. ... Still after two kids, they’re not the same. I’m afraid of having them done, though. There’s too much of that in L.A.â€

Ambrosio said she never plans to go under the knife again after a botched procedure at -- get this -- age 11.

“I always knew I wanted to be a model so I decided to have my ears pinned back, because they stuck out a bit. I found this doctor in my hometown [of Erechim] in Brazil who had only done it once before, so I was a guinea pig,†she said. “The first few nights, it felt like someone had cut off my ears. For a year, I had to go back for mini-surgeries. Doctors say they can fix them, but cosmetic surgery freaks me out now.â€

Yep, that experience would freak us out too...

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