Adriana Lima Said She Was ‘Shocked’ When She Saw Recent Red Carpet Photos of Herself: ‘That’s Not Me’

Adriana Lima gets candid about how she sees herself.

The supermodel, 42, openly said in a recent interview with Harper’s Bazaar Arabia about the criticism she received for her appearance while attending the film’s premiere in Los Angeles The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

“It didn’t bother me at all,” Lima told the newspaper. “I’m very strong that way, and honestly, I looked at myself before I went out and I felt great. I was with my children, and they looked at me and said: ‘Mom! You look so beautiful!'”

She attended the event in a black miniskirt with red details and pointy-toed heels with her boyfriend Andre Lemmers and daughters Sienna (11) and Valentina (14), who she shares with her ex-husband Marko Jarić. They were joined at the event by Lemmers’ two children, Miah and Lupo.

Adriana Lima November 13

Jon Kopaloff/Getty

Adriana Lima responds to negative comments about her appearance after the birth of a child: ‘Thank you for your concern’

Her appearance drew negative comments online, including suggestions that she had recently undergone plastic surgery. Although the comments did not “bother” her, she admitted Harper’s Bazaar Arabia that she was “shocked” to see photos of herself on the red carpet.

“I was like ‘that’s not me,'” the model recalled. “Everything was strange because I don’t see myself that way. I still don’t see myself that way… you can see yourself differently.”

“I wasn’t offended or anything, but I was laughing,” she continued. “The point is that I’m not 16 years old. I started modeling when I was 16, but I will never be 16 again. I am 42 years old and the happiest in my life; happiest with herself. I accept my age and I will not change for anyone.”

She echoed the same sentiments on social media last month, hitting back at criticism with a makeup-free selfie on her Instagram Story. “The face of a tired mom of one teenager, two pre-teens, a one-year-old learning to walk and three dogs,” she wrote over the photo, adding, “Thank you for your concern.”

Adriana Lima feels ‘celebrated’ at Victoria’s Secret after having baby at 41: ‘It’s exciting’ (Exclusive)

Elsewhere in her interview, Lima said she believes women are “celebrated at every stage of our lives.”

“I’m happy to see that change because one of my daughters wants to be a model,” she said Harper’s Bazaar Arabia from Valentina. “And I was very sad that she, as a model, would only be celebrated for a certain period of her life. I think every phase is a beautiful time and I love that fashion now embraces that.”

However, Lima believes the industry is still slow to change. “I don’t think we are [totally] moving away from ‘thin, young and beautiful’; I think the world makes room for everyone — and everyone with their uniqueness is celebrated,” she told the magazine, adding that she believes “there’s beauty in every stage of life for a woman and a man, and it’s great to see that there can be room for everyone.”

Adriana Lima on December 4.

Franziska Krug/Getty

Lima — who was a Victoria’s Secret Angel from 1999 to 2018 — reunited with the brand in September as the face of its new Heavenly Eau de Parfum. She told PEOPLE that she feels “uplifting” that the brand is celebrating her at this point in her career.

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“I feel that as a woman, I’m still in fashion — I’m 42 and a mother of five, so I feel like I’m still being celebrated at this stage in my life,” she said at the Victoria’s Secret Tour event in September.

“It’s great to see that no matter what stage you’re at [in life]for my kids and the new models coming up, it’s encouraging.”

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Source: HIS Education