Victoria's Secret Angel on Bullying: 'I Didn't Exist' in High School

Supermodel and Victoria’s Secret Angel Taylor Hill says that back in high school she wasn’t the popular girl, but the laughingstock.

The 19-year-old told Cosmopolitan.com that as a student in Colorado, “I was the butt of everyone’s jokes. Tall, skinny Taylor.” At 14, she signed with modeling agency IMG, and she left high school at 15, though she was able to get a diploma a year later. While she admits she didn’t have the typical high school experience, Hill says she doesn’t have any regrets.



She does, however, remember the students who were nasty to her during those high school days — especially those who come calling now that she’s walking world-famous runways, including Tuesday night’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. “Boys didn’t like me then,” she said, “and now they’re all like, ‘Hey, I went to school with you.’”

But Hill says she doubts her one-time classmates actually remember her from the classroom. “Last time I checked, nobody remembers that I went to that school,” she said. “People were shocked when they found out I went there. I didn’t exist back in the day.”

In an interview with Teen Vogue, the model said today’s high school students should use her story as an example. “I didn’t always think that I was beautiful and I didn’t always believe in myself, and I think it’s so important to have self confidence and always remember who you are,” she said. “No matter what people tell you, it’s always about what you think of yourself in the end. People have told me a million things in my life — and especially my career as a model, like, ‘Oh she’s too pretty, she’s too tan, she’s too short, she’s too tall, she’s not skinny enough,’ — and it’s crazy! You can’t listen to any of it and you have to remember who you are, what you do, and what makes you happy. That’s my message: happiness and positivity are such a huge thing for me.”

And for those high school bullies who once made jokes at Hill’s expense, we imagine she has only one question: Who’s laughing now?