Liu Wen tells us how she went from being a 'hunched' teenager to a Victoria's Secret Angel and China's highest-paid supermodel
Meet Liu Wen: The first East Asian model to walk the Victoria's Secret runway, first Chinese model to grace American Vogue's cover, and first Asian model to ever make Forbes' annual list of highest-paid models.
She was born in Yongzhou, a city in southern China. At 5-foot-10, she towered over her classmates while growing up. "I developed a habit of bending down when speaking to others, as if my back was permanently hunched," she said in 2014.
She never planned on being a model — her first foray into the industry was when she won a modelling contest in 2008, aged around 17, to win a new computer. "I didn't have a clear goal [at the time] — I just wanted something that would allow me to travel around the world," she told Business Insider.
Source: CNN
Her parents also encouraged her to join. "They thought it would help my confidence (and posture!)," she told BI.
Her friends were "all surprised" when she won the modelling competition, she said. She wrote in 2014: "People in my hometown seldom called me piao liang [beautiful], because my smaller eyes were a far cry from the wide irises of the most beloved television actresses."
![Her friends were "all surprised" when she won the modelling competition, she said. She wrote in 2014: "People in my hometown seldom called me piao liang [beautiful], because my smaller eyes were a far cry from the wide irises of the most beloved television actresses."](https://staticbiassets.in/thumb/msid-63255204,width-700,height-525,imgsize-1079797/her-friends-were-all-surprised-when-she-won-the-modelling-competition-she-said-she-wrote-in-2014-people-in-my-hometown-seldom-called-me-piao-liang-beautiful-because-my-smaller-eyes-were-a-far-cry-from-the-wide-irises-of-the-most-beloved-television-actresses-.jpg)
A year later, she became the first Asian model to ever grace the Victoria's Secret runway, where she walked alongside Miranda Kerr, Heidi Klum, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
At the company's show in Shanghai last November, she was one of seven Chinese Victoria's Secret models walking the runway. Here she is with three of them.
Liu was named one of Forbes' highest-paid models of the year in 2013, when she earned $4.3 million (£2.75 million at the time). She is the first Asian model to appear on this list.
Source: Vogue
Liu has stayed on the annual list ever since. She was the eighth highest-paid model in the world last year, when she earned $6.5 million (£4.7 million) — $500,000 (£360,000) more than Bella Hadid.
Source: Forbes
Liu's popularity came as more Western fashion brands hope to gain a footing in China. She told BI: "My success owes a lot to how the entire world has become a lot 'smaller' in recent years, which has allowed for more people around the globe to appreciate not only my look, but also my culture."
As an international model, Liu's travels have taken her around the world, from Cannes to New York to Milan.
... and Wendi Deng Murdoch, the ex-wife of Rupert Murdoch. They even celebrated Chinese New Year together.
That post with Deng Murdoch angered some of her Chinese fans, though. In the original caption of the post, she wished her followers a "Happy Lunar New Year," rather than "Chinese New Year" — a term used to include other Asian cultures that celebrate the festival, but is rarely used in China.
Source: BBC
So what's next for Liu? "If there is the opportunity, I'm always open to trying something new," she told BI. "Whether it is going into acting or something else, the goal is to diversify my life experiences."
"But I don't think I'll ever leave fashion completely — I love this industry very much for all its creativity and constant changes," she said.
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