Victoria's Secret beauty Kylie Bisutti who gave up her career for her faith on how modeling made her feel like a 'sex worker'
By SADIE WHITELOCKS and MARGOT PEPPERS
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Former Victoria's Secret star Kylie Bisutti, who gave up modeling last February because it clashed with her Christian faith, has told how the fashion industry made her feel like a 'sex worker'.
The five-foot-ten brunette, 23, who was based in New York but now lives in the quiet town of Big Fork, Montana, with her husband, Mike, said on the Today show: 'It definitely felt like I was being made to sell sex. I just really started to feel exploited and sexualized.'
Explaining how, even with a size 2 and 115-pound frame she was considered 'fat', she added: 'I'm just thankful that God changed my heart earlier on rather than being five or ten years down the road.'
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Bad memories: Former Victoria's Secret star Kylie Bisutti, who gave up modeling last year because it clashed with her Christian faith, has told how the fashion industry made her feel like a 'sex worker'
She has written a book called I'm No Angel: From Victoria's Secret Model to Role Model, about the struggles she faced as a religious supermodel and recently she said that posing half-naked made her feel 'like a piece of meat.'
While her public revelations have angered Victoria's Secret, who claim she has 'repeatedly fabricated her work experience' with the brand and 'a relationship that simply did not exist', she says she isn't trying to single the company out.
'[It's] really not about Victoria's Secret, it's about the modeling industry as a whole and about helping girls with self body issues, eating disorders and really exposing the entire industry for what it is.
'It's not targeting their brand . . . I believe the modeling industry as a whole really exploits young girls.'
She said that model agents made her feel intense pressure to be 'incredibly thin' and she turned to 'crazy' and 'unhealthy' crash diets in a bid to drop weight.
Model to role model: Kylie Bisutti has written a book, I'm No Angel, about why she gave up her career as a Victoria's Secret Angel to be closer to God
At first she thought things would change, but over time the appearance-obsessed world in which she lived in became too much.
'As I saw more and more girls collapsing after runway shows, hospitalized because of eating disorders I realized it wasn't just my experience, it was everyone in the entire industry,' she recalled.
'It's the story of someone pursuing fame, success and money and realizing those things are not going to bring the satisfaction she was hoping for'
Her husband of four years, Mike, and the pastor of her local church, Chis Miller, also spoke about her decision to quit the modeling industry during the Today interview.
Mr Bisutti said: 'She came to her convictions going,"I don't want to go down that road anymore. I don't feel comfortable dressing half naked to sell clothing."
While Pastor Miller explained: 'It's really the story of someone who is pursuing fame and success and money and realizing along the way that those things are not going to bring her the satisfaction that she was hoping for.'
Now spending her time as a church volunteer, while working on a 'modest' Christian fashion line for woman of 'all shapes and sizes', Mrs Bisutti says that she is at 'total peace' and the happiest she's been in her 'entire life.'
At peace: Mrs Bisutti at church with her husband Mike - they are both devout Christians
New path: The former underwear model is now a church volunteer and is working on a Christian fashion range
Mrs Bisutti grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, dreaming of posing in front of the camera.
'I thought the models I saw defined beauty, and beauty meant you were important,' she explained.
But once she moved to New York at 15 to pursue her dream, she realized a model's life was not as glamorous as she expected it to be.
'I thought the models I saw defined beauty, and beauty meant you were important'
'One of my [model] roommates was so bulimic, she would involuntarily throw up when she ate,' she previously recounted.
'She would go to sleep crying every night and just look at herself in the mirror thinking that she was so fat. And she was so thin.'
As teenager, Mrs Bisutti, who was known by her maiden name, Kylie Ludlow, eventually restricted her own diet to just watermelon, pineapple and water, managing to slim down to 108lbs to adhere to the pressures of the industry.
But around the same time, she attended a church youth group with a friend, a life-changing event where she discovered God and was inspired to become a practicing Christian.
Falling in love: One of the turning points in the 23-year-old's life was when she met her husband-to-be Mike (left), also a Christian. She sought to honor her vows to him, which proved difficult as a lingerie model
Unfortunately, religion did not mesh well with her new lifestyle. The then-teenager says she felt exploited multiple times by photographers and agents, who seemed to perceive her as a sex object.
'I was so desperate to succeed in the business that I complied when my agent told me, "All models have a topless shot,"' she told the Post regretfully, adding: 'I was only 16 when I posed for mine.'
Then, the biggest opportunity of her career came along - she was among 10,000 women to try out for the 2009 Victoria's Secret Angel Search competition, and she won.
'I realized my career was sending a bad message to women about confidence and body image'
Again, Mrs Bisutti was faced with the challenge of simultaneously honoring her faith and being a successful model.
On one of her first shoots after becoming an Angel, she had to pose in an almost-sheer bikini. The photographer promised that if the swimsuit looked too see-through, he would Photoshop the images.
But just a few weeks later, she explained, she searched her own name on Google and discovered the revealing photos on a pornographic website. 'It was heartbreaking for me,' she recalled.
What's more, one of the turning points in her life was when she met her husband-to-be, Mike Bisutti, on a family trip to Mexico.
Although she wanted to honor her Christian vows to him, Victoria's Secret encouraged her to pretend to be single and flirt with other people.
Change of pace: Now, two years after abandoning her modeling career, Mrs Bisutti leads a quiet existence with her husband in Montana. 'Just last night, we canned 40 jars of fresh pasta sauce,' she says of her new life
'A lot of models don't talk about their relationships unless they're married to a celebrity, like Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom, which is more of a draw to the brand,' she revealed.
The final straw was on a shoot for FHM magazine, when a photographer instructed her to pull up her top and 'hold up the covers like you don't have any panties on,' she remembers.
At that moment, Mrs Bisutti had a revelation: 'I was being paid to strip down and pose provocatively to titillate men,' she said. 'It wasn't about modeling clothes anymore; I felt like a piece of meat.'
'It wasn't about modeling clothes anymore; I felt like a piece of meat'
She turned to God for guidance: 'I was in my bedroom and dropped to my knees and started to pray.'
The day after the shoot, she decided to make a change in her life and told her agent she would no longer model lingerie. 'I realized my career was sending a bad message to women about confidence and body image,' she explained.
But the opportunities kept rolling in, even after she publicly hung up her Angel wings.
First she turned down a chance to be in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, one of the most coveted offers for a model, because 'those bikinis are sometimes skimpier than lingerie.'
Again, her faith played a roll in her decision to turn down an offer to be on the CW network's Dancing With the Stars. 'I didn't want to dance with a man other than my husband on the reality show,' she said.
Flirty: Mrs Bisutti says that Victoria's Secret Angels are encouraged not to talk about their relationships unless they're married to a celebrity, like Miranda Kerr (right) whose husband is actor Orlando Bloom
Now, Mrs Bisutti is happy and healthy at 124lbs, living a low-key life in Montana with her husband. 'Just last night, we canned 40 jars of fresh pasta sauce,' she said of her new lifestyle.
While she admits she has most likely lost out on millions of dollars by quitting at the pinnacle of her fame, she is wholly contented with her decision to give up modelling.
These days, Mrs Bisutti is concentrating on other projects, like launching her modest Christian clothing line next month, which she says will be modeled by women of all shapes and sizes.
'Beauty isn't about what you look like,' insists the former model. 'It's about what's in your heart. That's the most important thing.'
I'm No Angel: From Victoria's Secret Model to Role Model, will hit stores on May 14.
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