Okay, so I have no idea how to pronounce your last name.
Wer-bo-ee.
Like David Bowie?
Yeah. It means “willow tree” in Ukrainian.
Obviously, you fly a lot for work. Who has the best business or first class? And don’t say you fly coach.
I did for a really long time! But as far as first class goes, British Airways. But you know what I don’t understand? I want to know who makes these beds, because who sleeps on an angle? You’re sliding down the whole time. Who says that’s comfortable?
I thought British Air is fully reclinable.
British is the only business class that fully reclines. For the others, at least put a footrest that comes up. Or handcuffs [laughs].
That’d be cool. That’s how Helmut Newton would’ve shot you. Actually, you shot with him just before he died, right?
Yeah. I was the last girl, in Monte Carlo. And I had the flu, so he kept a ten-foot distance from me the whole time. It was amazing.
Was it all crazy and racy?
One shot I was in a bikini with a fork and bunch of grass on the end, like rar! Another, I was on a bed of nails.
Of course.
Yeah, I do that all the time, so it was no big deal. And then the last one, I was on a cliff holding a huge rock over my head.
What were you wearing in that one?
Oh! The best part about the Helmut Newton thing is that he made me wear rubber nipples.
Excuse me?
Rubber nipples.
You mean over your actual ones but underneath your shirt?
Yeah. He was like, “Something’s missing.” And he pulls out of his pocket this collection of rubber nipples [laughs]. Not just a set—he had different colors, shapes, sizes, everything.
Awesome. When was the last time you dated a guy your age?
[long pause] I’ve never dated anybody my age. My first boyfriend was eight years older than I was.
Was that legal?
I was 16; he was 22.
Legal in some states, maybe—although I think that’s six years.
Six years, yeah. Apparently, I can’t even count. The closest I’ve dated is a year older.
Let’s talk about your job. How do you make sure you’re not hungover and supertired when you show up at a fashion shoot?
Well, you can’t, you know. What, you’re going to stop going out because you have to be at work at nine in the morning? Do you do that?
I do now. I’m an old man.
C’mon, you live once. I’m not going to stop doing anything I’d normally do.
Well, on that note, do you think Kate Moss has been getting a raw deal from the press?
You know what? That whole thing, it’s like, we’re human beings, dude. I haven’t lived her life; I haven’t been through the things she’s been through, so who knows. I can’t judge somebody on something like that. She’ll figure it out. She’s a strong person. In my opinion, the press has only helped her. And it’s funny that this sort of thing happens so much in the fashion industry, but you know what? It happens every day everywhere else in every industry, in every country. It’s life.
