In fact, many of these famous faces have cast aside dream jobs in the medical or science worlds to grace the top runways and magazines.
And while we’re well aware that saying you’d like to be a doctor or a marine biologist isn’t the same thing as actually doing it, it’s pretty amsuing to think about some of these fashion and lingerie models trading in their Vogue covers or Victoria’s Secret Angel wings for lab goggles.
We’ll believe it when we see it, ladies. In the meantime, here are some models who’ve wanted to be something else besides models:
Adriana Lima
When asked if she’d always planned on being a supermodel in 2006, Adriana Lima told GQ, “When I started, I was too young to know what I wanted. But today I would like to be a doctor. I want to be a pediatry…how do you call it, pediatrician?” But when asked if she liked kids, she replied, “Not really.” A lot has changed since then — Lima may not have become a pediatrician, but she did have two children.
Karlie Kloss
The 21-year-old has thrown around the idea of going to Harvard, where she would like to study medicine. “I have always had an interest in medicine,” she told Daily Front Row Berlin. “My father is an emergency room doctor.” She’s also considered expanding her entrepreneurial skills, explaining, “Tyra [Banks] did it. She went to Harvard business school. I can do it, too.” One degree at a time, Kloss.
Lindsay Ellingson
The Victoria’s Secret Angel told Vogue UK recently that she decided she wanted to be a doctor at the age of 13 after undergoing spinal fusion surgery: “And, after it was successful, I thought, ‘I want to do this. I want to help people like this.’ I really was a math and science nerd and planned to be a doctor, so I started a course in Biology at the University of California. But then I was scouted and Viva sent me to Paris.”
Cara Delevingne
The fashion world’s resident silly model didn’t have any intention of dominating the catwalks — she told Russh magazine that she always wanted to be a dentist. “I also had this weird passion for dentistry and loved looking inside my mouth. Weird,” she said. Can you imagine looking up to this face during a routine filling?
Behati Prinsloo
You’d think a Victoria’s Secret Angel and the future Mrs. Adam Levine would be content with her lot in life, but Behati Prinsloo told Russh magazine that if she weren’t modeling, she’d be “a marine biologist and living in Hawaii.” Actually, that sounds pretty awesome.
Joan Smalls
Just before stepping onto the catwalk for the 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Joan Smalls told us that she’d definitely be a psychologist if she wasn’t a model. But we totally believe her — she actually got her degree in psychology at the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico before moving to New York to pursue modeling.
Julia Nobis
The blonde beauty said that when she was 15 years old, she “settled on the idea of becoming a doctor. Before that, there was paleontologist, marine biologist, pastry chef and schoolteacher.” Between her appearances on Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana and Louis Vuitton’s runways and her editorials in Vogue and W magazine, we’d say she went with none of the above… for the time being. She’s working towards attaining a Bachelor of Science and Applied Science part-time remotely through Melbourne’s RMIT University.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article implied that Nobis had not taken any steps in pursuing a second career in the sciences. The post has been updated to reflect her part-time academic pursuits.
Some models weren’t always in the cool club…
