Though Karlie Kloss now resides in New York, she remains very much a part of her Missouri roots, tying her roots to everything from her knowledge of nutrition to why she’s so passionate about preserving access to abortion.
“I grew up in the middle of Missouri,” says Kloss, 31, a model, activist, entrepreneur and mother of two children with her husband, Joshua Kushner. luck“I think I’d only eaten packaged, processed foods for most of my life until I moved to New York and slowly discovered things like green juice.”
She’s just signed on for a new campaign for Thorne supplements, and says she’s “proud” and “excited” to be involved, but adds that “the campaign is about finding your own path to health,” which is something she can relate to.
Cross said that when she was younger, “I feel like I had to relearn how to eat food properly,” but she eventually realized that while her job often revolves around appearance, “taking care of myself from the inside out makes me feel like a different person.”
This includes taking a daily B-complex vitamin supplement for energy (“instead of getting a vitamin infusion,” she says) and Thorne’s Memorative, a blend of ashwagandha and ginkgo biloba for focus and energy. “I’m pretty diligent about remembering to take my vitamins,” she says.
Her regimen includes running, pilates, virtual workouts with Madison Rose, and “trying to eat whole foods, lean protein, loads of vegetables, and drink as much water as possible.” (Although, she does love pasta and has a sweet tooth, so “I try to eat a full spectrum diet,” she explains.)
Cross says it took him a while to find himself, find work that really meant something and the problems he wanted to address.
“I’ve been working since I was 15. I grew up in the Midwest and had a Cinderella story of overnight success in the fashion industry. I pursued this crazy career and rode it and I’m so grateful for it,” she said, reflecting on her career as a Victoria’s Secret Angel from 2013 to 2015 as well as being a cover model and runway model.
She later said she left the job to enroll at New York University and pursue other goals. British Vogue“I felt like this photo really didn’t reflect who I am and what I want to inspire young women around the world about what beauty is.”
Now she speaks luck“To be honest, I’ve had a lot of growing to do, like figuring out who my true self is. I think becoming a model at a young age was a blank canvas onto which other people could project their ideas, and I loved being that chameleon. But I think the real turning point for me was wanting to become more of my true self in all aspects of my life.”
That journey continues, she said, especially with her work with Kode With Klossy, which provides opportunities for teenage girls to learn technology, and the Gateway Coalition, which she founded as a way to direct resources to doctors and clinics in the Midwest that provide reproductive health care, including abortions.
“I’m so grateful that through my modelling career and the social media that’s developed along the way, I’ve been given the platform to speak up for people, especially young women, on my own terms,” she says.
This is especially true when it comes to Cross’s abortion access advocacy work: “Abortion is part of reproductive health care and, in my personal opinion, a fundamental human right. I don’t think it should be politicized. Abortion is an extremely personal decision and it’s a choice that everyone should have the right to make for themselves. That’s my belief.”
This is where Missouri comes into the picture again for Cross, who points out that “it’s the state whose trigger law went into effect six minutes after Roe was overturned, and it immediately affected all of my friends and family in Missouri.”
That “put me on a path to understanding what it means for people seeking care and the obstacles they have to overcome,” and it “raised awareness about the front lines of maintaining access to abortion care, Pap smears, breast cancer screenings — that these clinics provide so much more care than just abortions. So when you limit access to care for that local community, it actually has so many other impacts.”
Of course, her main focus now is raising her two children, Levi Joseph, 3, and Elijah Jude, 1, and respecting their changing priorities and perspectives.
“Now that I have kids, I know how picky I am, and I think my parents really tried to get us to eat proper food,” she reflects, “and as a mom, you want to instill healthy habits,” she adds, suggesting she’s well on her way to that goal with her youngest child, who gobbles up any fruit or veggie she puts in front of him.
