Interview with Robyn Lawley
Thursday / October 1, 2026
About Robyn Lawley
Australian model from Girraween, New South Wales, whose work includes Sports Illustrated, Ralph Lauren and Vogue. She appeared in the film Four Christmases and a Wedding (2017).
Source: No Filter on YouTube
These answers are taken from Robyn Lawley Is Taking On Victoria's Secret on No Filter's YouTube channel. You! Backstage did not conduct this interview.
What drew you to a career as a model?
To travel the world. It's much easier than doing a regular job, and I've worked many regular jobs, so I know the hard work. I've worked in Red Rooster, I've scrubbed floors, I've worked in casinos, I've been in offices, I've done insurance. There was a lot of jobs I was doing. Modeling was very glamorous.
I like doing it when I'm actually doing it. When I'm in front of the camera, there's a part of me that likes performing. When I'm off, I'm off. But I also like doing electronic music and I like filming.
What do you enjoy most about modeling?
When you're on a set, it's amazing. It's usually fun once you've got the job.
I've loved it. I was dancing with Diplo on stage a year ago, because of the Sports Illustrated festival, and I just remember getting crazy, because this mother hadn't been out to a music festival in a little while. I'm on stage trying to do the Melbourne Shuffle, and they're like, what is this woman doing? In front of a huge crowd, trying to look at what Diplo was using program-wise.
It's been enjoyable to do both. I actually like doing both. There's a part of me that likes performing, and there's a part of me that really likes doing the other, behind the scenes. I enjoy the creative world. It's really fun for me, and I get to be creative.
What was a great moment for you as a model?
I got to do the Bras N Things campaign this year, which was awesome. Another store I used to shop at as a teenager and look at the models, and to finally get to be in their campaign, I was like, wow, we've come such a long way.
Look at Vogue. We never thought Vogue would ever feature a curvy girl years ago, and it did. It changed, and they woke up and they did feature a girl. They featured multiple women, and it had such a massive shakeup in our industry. And then Sports Illustrated did it, and they have been repeatedly doing it since. Sports Illustrated was something as established as Vogue, and at that stage they hadn't used a curvy girl yet. After doing Vogue, they saw me and they brought me in.
How did your career as a model unfold?
Some of it was I'm too tall, some of it was I'm too curvy, some of it was just, you're just not right. I was with kind of a dodgy agency and doing some castings, and it was an art director that was like, "You're not right for this, but here's Chelsea Bonner's number." So I signed with Bella when I met Chelsea, and she was like, "Just stay exactly how you are." And I just found that so refreshing. She's more than just an agent, because she was a model too, so she gets it, and she wants to protect her girls' best interests.
For me, Sports Illustrated was huge. Ralph Lauren was a huge honor, and a big brand that you never would think would change, changed. I got to do multiple editorials for Vogue. Lane Bryant was a big one for the curve community.
I've done my dash. I've worked my ass off. I've been on every kind of plane, on every kind of route, on every kind of seat. Especially if you come from Australia, you have to work a certain amount to even get your green card. It took me years to get my green card. It's actually a lot harder than it sounds.
What advice do you have for new models?
I'm very familiar with rejection. I know how to handle it, and I just want the young tall girls and the young curvy girls, or even short girls, out there to feel like once you get over that feeling of rejection, you can accomplish so much more. If you feel rejected, go on your computer and do something, or go and draw something. Take that anger and that angst and use it as a creative outcome.
Sometimes I let that emotion come out. Sometimes I am destroyed. I'm human. I'd be lying to you if I said I feel amazing all the time. If you focus on the negatives, you have a negative outcome. If you focus on the positives, you have a positive outcome. So it's up to you.
A lot of agencies are really dodgy. They don't give you benefits like superannuation or tax. They really run up models' accounts and put them in huge amounts of debt.
What has been your greatest accomplishment as a model?
I wrote an article for The Daily Beast about not having a thigh gap and being featured on a thigh gap website, which I was heavily cyberbullied for. I was in a pose that looked like I had a thigh gap, and everyone's comments afterwards were like, "Get this piggy off." It was hundreds and hundreds. And it hurt, because I was a lot younger. And then I got mad, and I wrote an article for The Daily Beast, which they published.
I know that having this career has had a positive impact. It has changed the way we see models. Look how much change we have now. Look how much diversity we have now. It takes seeing bodies like that to realize, oh, it's okay not to be perfect.
I've been loud and proud about my stretch marks, because once again, it's something we don't ever see. I think we've looked at them really negatively for so long and feel so stupidly self-conscious of them, and most women are covered in them.
Describe your style.
The fashion world takes me as plus size. Some people call me in between. I just call myself a model. Fashion model. You're either too this or too that. You have to learn to roll with the punches, so I take what I can get. I'm kind of in between. It's a really strange size to be.
I'm still the same size I was when I started this career, an Australian 14 to 16. I love food, and I can't not eat, because I'm 6'2" and need to eat every day.
I was told I was too tall. Too tall, too tall. We lied about my height. I know what rejection feels like. Too tall for what? Life? I exist as a human being. There are tall women. So when I saw Gwendoline Christie in Game of Thrones, I was like, finally, I'm seen. I've never seen a woman in film my height.
Tell me about a shoot or a show that was hard to pull off. What was it and why was it challenging?
I actually delivered my baby and had to work two weeks after, which was incredibly hard for me. I'm the breadwinner of my family, and I enjoy this lifestyle. I enjoy traveling, and I wanted to maintain my lifestyle. It was actually more intense in the labor room, because I couldn't have a C-section at that time. I had to work, and I couldn't have time recovering.
Things like stomach stretch marks, that was hard for me to overcome, because that was all new. I had to shoot Sports Illustrated and I'm covered in new, raw stretch marks, and that was a little confronting, but I did it anyway. You can't delay. It doesn't work like that. Clients are doing shoots. So it's your choice. You can forgo it or you can do it, and I chose to do it.
Tell me something I may not know from reading your credits.
I like doing electronic music. There's programs, Ableton Live and Logic Studio, that I use. I have a piano that's connected to my computer, I have some other instruments, I have synthesizers, and they're all connected via an audio interface into my computer. I'm actually working with a rapper in America right now, which is a lot of fun. I struggle to call myself a musician, because I love Radiohead and I love actual musicians, but I use the same programs as The Chemical Brothers.
I've done a few of my own commercials this year. I was art director, cinematographer, and I made the music. And with Sports Illustrated, after years of working with them, I was like, "Can I film for you guys?" So they let me film the whole documentary, In Her Own Words, in New York, which is on Amazon. I filmed the entire thing.
What are some of your professional goals for the future?
I feel like there is a career for me afterwards, which would be more behind the scenes, because I actually enjoy the creative world. It's really fun for me, and I get to be creative.
There is that sense of a narrow window, but I think it is changing. We've seen different age groups used. I met Maye Musk recently, Elon Musk's mother, and she's beautiful and amazing, and Paulina Porizkova, who was a supermodel from the 80s. She's an awesome human being. She actually made me feel amazing about myself, which was refreshing. I think it's refreshing to see different age groups.
So it's not a job that's a short career. I mean, it can be, but like I said, if you're a naturally creative person, which I am, I love my computer, I love taking photos, I love videoing. So for me, I can see both sides to it.
Robyn Lawley's Full Biography
Robyn Lawley was born on 13 June 1989 in Girraween, New South Wales, Australia. She is an actress, known for Four Christmases and a Wedding (2017), Have You Been Paying Attention? (2013) and Heart to Heart with Robyn Lawley (2025).