Karen Elson Quotes

English Model
Born: January 14, 1979

I'm dedicating my time to going on tour and basically juggling music, modeling, and being a mother. Being a mother is obviously the most important.

I just love vintage. I have far too many vintage dresses.

Dresses Far Just Love Many Too Vintage

I was afraid of being judged too harshly. But I'd let those fears overwhelm me for far too long.

Obviously there are going to be a lot of skeptics. I only hope I can prove them wrong and give the idea of model-slash-anything a genuine chance.

I very much adore people who are outcasts, and I've always loved to be around interesting, circus-type people.

I'm surrounded by freaks. Am I weirder than the rest of them? Ultimately I've learned to pride myself on being quirky.

I was always the weirdo at school. When I became a model [at 16], I didn't tell anybody. I was terrified that the kids would rip me to pieces.

One girl came up to me - I remember it so vividly - she said, 'You're not fit to model socks.' It crushed me. But at the same time, it made me unbelievably determined to prove everybody wrong and prove to myself that I could live an incredible life.

At school I got harassed so badly for being too tall, too thin, too pale - too everything that has gotten me where I am now, which is quite ironic.

I like feeling a bit of an outcast where I am. I've always been that way. Somehow, I fit in by not fitting in.

I've been such a gypsy in my life because I was born in northern England and grew up there until I was 16. But I'm 31 now, so I've lived almost half my life in so many other countries that I don't really know what nationality I am. I mean, I've got a British passport and an American green card, but I don't know where I'm from anymore.

I constantly have a devil on my shoulder telling me that what I'm doing is really horrible, and then somehow the lightning strike happens and everything comes together. I've just realized I have to live with that devil on my shoulder a little bit more.

Having children, you have so much more structure in your life. The open-endedness of being a single woman is gone, you know? It's sort of like, from 1 P.M. to 3 P.M. the kids are going to take a nap, so now I have time to sit down and write the lyrics, or once they're put to bed, I have a few hours to focus on those things. I need that. It's a very strange process, really - I can never predict what's going to happen. It always feels uncomfortable and awkward.

As a model, I am at the mercy of everybody else. It's much more of a situation where I go to work, put the clothes on, get in front of the camera, and then go home. But in that process, I never really have control over any of it. So, putting out a record, it's such a brilliant opportunity to be in control of things. It's my world, my music, and I can put it out there in a way that is meaningful to me.

As a model I had a lot of success when I was 17 and 18 years old. It was before social media, before the world was what the world is, but even then it was terrifying, to be 18 years old and people knowing who you are, and I was this personality who was completely devoid of who I actually was. It was almost like being a manufactured boy band. You're sort of like a wind up doll, they wind you up and put you on the runway or something like that.

We all know people who are ridiculously famous, and it's a scary thing because all of the sudden people - even the people you are close to - stop being honest with you, stop telling you the truth.

I've not met one person, even if they are not creative, who isn't dysfunctional. I guess artists are just a bit more aware of their dysfunction because it serves a purpose.

A movie's a movie - you know I'm a massive old film buff - but it's still something to me, music: I can still close my eyes like I was when I was a teenager, and it can still make me weep or make me angry or make me, even if it's bad music, crack up.

There comes a point where certain things are becoming my Achilles heel, you know when you start repeating yourself and saying the same anecdotes over and over again you start slowly hating yourself.