Molly Sims is reflecting on how her relationship with her body has changed over the years.
“I just came in at a very difficult era,” the Las Vegas alum, 53, exclusively tells Us while looking back at the pressure to be a certain weight in her early modeling days. “It was about 20 pounds underweight. … Normal body weight was not that when I entered it, and so it gave me a lot of pause, a lot of tears.”
Sims says she tried “extreme measures” to meet expectations when it came to her weight, including trying “every diet” she came across.
“I think there’s not one thing I didn’t do,” she recalls.
Now, more than 40 years later, Sims has a different perspective.
“I’m not trying to look like I’m 20, which I think makes a huge difference,” she explains. “I’m just trying to look the best I can at every age.”
Sims adds that she would rather be “healthy” than thin, which is a “big mind shift.”
“I’m the girl who [wouldn’t pick up the] two-pound weight at SoulCycle. Now I do HIIT. I lift weights. I’m back to Pilates, and I do Tracy Anderson,” she continues. “Also, the difference between me at 20 and me at 53 is that I have an incredible tailor. So if I’m a size 12 or
I’m size 4, it doesn’t f***ing matter. That’s my secret weapon.”
Still, Sims admits she still has “hang-ups” about her body every now and then.
“That doesn’t just go away. I’m super broad, and I hate my shoulders and my arms because I was told my entire life, ‘You’re too muscular,’” she adds.
Sims began her modeling career in her early 20s after scoring features on the cover of Vogue Spain and Vogue Paris. In 2001, she became a spokesmodel for Old Navy and walked the runway for the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Sims has also worked with CoverGirl, Veronique Leroy, Jerome L’Huillier, Givenchy, Ann Demeulemeester and Emanuel Ungaro and appeared on the cover of Ocean Drive, Lucky, Marie Claire, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Allure, Glamour, Shape, Self and Vanidades.
Sims also made frequent appearances in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit in the early 2000s.
She made her triumphant return to the magazine in May and walked the SI Swimsuit Runway Show in Miami alongside Bethenny Frankel, Brooks Nader, Ilona Maher and others.
“The fact that I said yes was a miracle of God,” Sims tells Us of agreeing to participate in the photoshoot and runway show. “I’ve always been disciplined, but people in the public eye have that added goal because they’re photographed. So it kind of helped me, especially with my fitness. Am I sick of protein? I’m so sick of chicken, but I still do my shakes and my creatine. Does it work? I don’t know. Maybe!”
Overall, Sims says she looked at preparing for her SI Swim appearance “in a different way” this time around.
“I’m at a different time in my life,” she notes. “My whole world does not depend on how I look in a bikini — which is a really nice feeling!”
