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Posted

Gloves Off

By Emma Brown

Photographed by Van Sarki

September 19, 2013

Charlbi Dean Kriek
AGE: 23

HOMETOWN: Cape Town, South Africa.

WAS IT FASHIONABLE? Yes, in its own, laid-back kind of way, which means I stuck out like a sore thumb with my odd dress sense.

DID YOU GROW UP READING MAGAZINES? Not really. I read a lot of books.

WERE YOU ALWAYS TALL? DID THAT SET YOU APART FROM YOUR PEERS? I went to school early, so was always the youngest and never the tallest. I was named “walking, talking toothpick.” Being very skinny was something I hated at school.

HOW WERE YOU DISCOVERED? My mom was a model but very shy. I wanted to be an actress and in South Africa modeling was the closest thing to it. Doing TV commercials was where I started.

DREAM CAMPAIGN: Cosmetics company.

DREAM RUNWAY: Victoria’s Secret is something I think most models would love to walk for.

FIRST SHOOT: A TV commercial for BMW, I believe. I loved every moment of it.

STARTED BOXING: After my film Death Race Inferno (2012). I had to use weapons and trained for the fight scenes—I realized it was a fun way to keep fit.

ARE YOU ANY GOOD: I’ve been told I’ve got a good roundhouse kick. Practice makes perfect.

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Posted

7 People Share the Stories Behind Their Scars

We all have scars — some are just more visible than others.

BY ROSEMARY DONAHUE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINE HAHN

July 2, 2019

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After the car accident that gave Charlbi her scars, she had a massive amount of healing to do. “I broke my back in two places and my lungs collapsed. My diaphragm burst. My spleen was removed. There were a whole bunch of different things happening at the same time.” All told, it was around a year and a half worth of surgeries and recovery time.

 

As you can imagine, this process radically changed how she relates to her body. “I think in the beginning my body image was incredibly distorted. You identify with yourself as one thing, and then you go through this massive change and all of a sudden it's like, 'Well, now who am I?'” Especially as an actress and model, she explains that suddenly, it felt like people were only talking to her about her scars. “It's like you can never just be you — it's you with the scars whether or not you want to talk about it. It's always brought up. So I think in that regard, it was a little bit of a thing I didn't ask for.”

 

At first, she had a lot of complex feelings about her scars. “I feel like a lot of people that go through what I've gone through deal with survivor’s guilt because you almost feel like, ‘Why am I the lucky one?’ Every doctor you see is like, ‘You're lucky to be alive. You're lucky you can walk.’ You actually feel a little guilty for being self-conscious about a scar.” While having perspective can help, she assures other survivors of similar accidents that it’s okay to be insecure. She tells me, “But whatever you're feeling, you are allowed to have those feelings. You're allowed to feel whatever you are feeling. Survivor’s guilt is a real thing.”

 

She says that now, she thinks her scars are cool and actually prefers they not be Photoshopped out of shoots — she wants people to get used to seeing things like scars, stretch marks, and more in media. “In all honesty, if I could choose, I wouldn't get rid of them. Now, I'm really proud. To me, the fact that I have scars is a sign I've gone through something. And beauty really is in the eye of the beholder — I feel like as human beings, we just find the same things we’re seeing over and over beautiful, but there are so many different variables of beauty and what's interesting.”

 

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