Irina Shayk in Saint Laurent dress, Saint Laurent hosiery, Cartier rings, Christian Louboutin pumps. Image by Zoey Grossman.

Top model Irina Shayk covers HarpersBazaar.com’s Summer 2019 digital cover. Charles Varenne styles Irina in Burberry, Carolina Herrera, Saint Lauren and more for images by Zoey Grossman.

Shayk delivers an unusually candid interview with Olivia Fleming.

Irina Shayk wears Bulgari necklace, bracelets, rings, and earrings. Image by Zoey Grossman.

Irina Shayk On Pursuing Perfection

“I’m not perfect,” she educates readers. “I have bad-skin days and bad-hair days. Sometimes I don’t look like a model. I’m just a real human being.

“If somebody wants to inject their lips because they feel bad, God bless them. I don’t judge anyone,” Shayk continues. “But I always promote natural beauty because I think we live in this perfect world where everyone wants to be perfect. But I’m not perfect. Sometimes I have a double chin. Perfection doesn’t exist. I’m going to have wrinkles and I have wrinkles.”

Irina Shayk wearing Carolina Herrera skirt, Bulgari earrings, Aquazurra shoes Image by Zoey Grossman.

Irina Shayk Bulgari earrings and ring, Balmain dress. Image by Zoey Grossman.

Irina Shayk On Being Yourself

“I never was this kind of person who was like, ‘I want to look pretty.’ I had agents who said, ‘Oh, you have to cut your hair, lose the wig.’ And I was like, ‘Not happening.’ You have to know what you want and you have to stick with your decisions.

“People will tell you, ‘You’re too skinny, you’re too fat.’ You have to learn how to love you and be comfortable in your own skin. If you really love you for who you are, I think you can do anything.”

Irina Shayk wearing Balmain dress, Bulgari earrings and ring, Christian Louboutin pumps. Image by Zoey Grossman.

Irina Shayk in Burberry jacket, blouse and skirt. Image by Zoey Grossman.

Irina Shayk On Looking Like A Mother

“You have to be really truly yourself for your kids, otherwise you’re living in a lie,” Shayk says of motherhood. “Tell me one reason why, just because you’re a mother, that you need to wear a longer skirt. No! I don’t believe in that. I really don’t.

“Why should you have to change who you are and how you feel just because you become a mother? I’m like, tell me why. Tell me one reason! I don’t believe in that… I really believe if you love something, you can prioritize your time. [Motherhood] is just an addition to your life.”

Irina Shayk in Burberry trench. Image by Zoey Grossman.

Irina Shayk wearing Alberta Ferretti dress, Christian Louboutin shoes, Bulgari earrings, Bulgari ring. Image by Zoey Grossman.

Irina Shayk On Her Daughter Lea With Recent Partner Bradley Cooper

Shayk’s official Instagram account has no images of her daughter with Cooper, Lea de Seine. We learn that the little girl is named after Shayk’s paternal grandmother, Galina. “The second part is the Seine, like the river in Paris,” she explains, offering a tiny morsel of information on a topic of walled-off conversation.

Irina Shayk in Redemption dress by Zoey Grossman

Irina Shayk On Public Obsession With Her Relationship With Actor Bradley Cooper

Pre-breakup, Shayk essentially shrugs at the public’s obsession with her private life. “I think it's just human beings: if you cannot have it, you want to have it. There's a curtain there, you want to open the curtain. It's curiosity I guess.” On the subject of marriage, she will contend to being a fan of the institution, but stops short of acknowledging whether it’s something she eventually wants for herself. “Everyone looks at it differently,” she begins. “Do I believe in marriage? Yes, of course. I'm not the kind of person who is against it.”

Shayk is more focused on her many Russian friends in New York, where she’s creating a home in the West Village.

“I have so many Russian friends in New York. We do Russian banya, Russian dinners with Russian traditions and celebrations,” she says .It’s important to surround herself with these people, she says, because “when you wake up and you look at yourself in the mirror,” she pauses to clarify, “not that I run to the mirror first thing when I wake up, but the people who love you, who surround you every day, they see a different side of you than you see.” She looks at me intently and continues. “When you do an interview with somebody, you really have to trust who they are going to make you look like. I think the real moments is what shows who the person is. And my friends, they really care about the real stuff—they care about you just being real.”

Read on at Harper’s.com