They’ll be gone in a few days,” Samantha Hoopes reassures me. We’re at a posh celebrity haunt in Beverly Hills, and I’m sitting on a windowsill listening to a supermodel apologise for her flaws, the stray blemish left behind by a recent facial. Flaws, in this case, is a relative term. She is one of the most beautiful women in the world, after all. But then, up until last year, this “supermodel” was crashing at her parents’ place in Doylestown, Pennsylvania (pop. 8,380) – aimless and uninspired.
“I went to school for a couple of years, and then I had a boyfriend and he didn’t have a job, so we were just hanging out and doing nothing,” says the former business major. “That’s when my mum was like, ‘OK, this is getting ridiculous – you either get a nine-to-five or you model.’ And I was like, ‘Well, duh.’”
Hoopes split for the City of Angels, and within two months she was following in the illustrious footsteps of Claudia Schiffer, Laetitia Casta, and Kate Upton as a Guess girl – her childhood dream come true. Then, just before Thanksgiving [the fourth Thursday of November], the 23-year-old landed coveted rookie status in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Practically overnight she’d checked off two of the most iconic boxes in the bombshell playbook. Victoria’s Secret: take note.
“I did exactly what I set out to do,” says Hoopes, “thanks to him – this guy over here.” She is pointing to her agent, who at the moment is engrossed in a magazine. He is also the man responsible for her dinner tonight: a bowl of acai and granola, sitting half-eaten on a shelf.
“Victor’s trying to make me healthy,” says Hoopes, whose natural dietary inclinations don’t exactly fit the supermodel mould. When I ask her what she misses most about home, she wastes no time: “I miss the cheesesteaks and breakfast sandwiches.”
For the full feature and images grab the August 2014 issue of MAXIM, in stores from July 17 to August 21.
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