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Credit: Instagram @robynlawley
It’s one thing for a celebrity to play the “I love my fans, I would do anything for them,” card in an interview, but another to follow through. However for Australian model and Westfield Beauty and Wellness Ambassador, Robyn Lawley, she makes a point of practicing what she preaches. “I get tired of people thinking about other people’s bodies in these negative concepts. I want people to be more empathetic,” she says. “I want to empower women to feel good about themselves.” Whether it’s answering her followers’ questions on Instagram, speaking out on Ellen about positive body image or fronting a public spin class with her personal trainer, Lawley walks the wellness talk. To help celebrate Westfield’s Beauty and Wellness Weekend, we spoke to Lawley about her inside-and-out approach to wellness and how the modelling industry is changing.
Credit: Instagram @robynlawley
Wellness is not only about your exterior image and taking care of one’s self with good nutrition, it’s also mental. Taking care of what your body image means to you is really important. I think Australia is really paving the way, and kudos to Westfield for embracing bringing such a diverse group of women and men to The Frontline, it’s amazing and I’m so happy.
When I’m in Sydney I train my PT, Penny. We’ll go outside, but when we’re in the gym and we just circuit train, interval train, and that’s what I like. : For me it’s a lot of weights, squats, and going around and doing push ups – that kind of stuff. Weights are really important, and they help advance you really quickly. We’ll also do some light boxing because it gets your heart rate going, and then some lunges, squats, side steps, high leg jumps, and jumping jacks. Whatever she can get out of me. But she’s quite torturous. I like changing it up and going for different things, I like kickboxing too. I love training with Penny because she keeps it really exciting
In LA I go to my local yoga group, or do kickboxing at Box and Burn, which I love too because it gets anger out! I was seeing Jason Zuckerman – he was a really good trainer. And Soul Cycle, I used to do it all the time in New York.
Credit: Instagram @robynlawley
For me this is my natural weight and shape. It’s my bone structure, this is what I am. I’ve always been a big advocate of finding your natural set way, and sticking to it by eating good quality food, and not depriving yourself. If you deprive yourself, you make yourself crazy and then binge. I’ve embrace good quality food, and I’ll eat what I want and I’ll know when I’m full, because I’m eating food that’s filled with nutrients. I think that’s the way to go. I hate diet food, I will not touch diet food, and I can’t stand fat-free diet food. It doesn’t taste real. I think that if you had big health challenges ahead, and you had to lose a lot of weight, I would tell yourself that you’re starving from nutrients, and that way it’s such a different way of looking at something. That way you need to eat a lot of vegetables and fill your body with what it’s deprived of. That’s a different mentality to look at it, and it helped me when I heard it in that respect.
In America you do see extremes in terms of body shapes and sizes. I’ve seen some extreme body types, and in my mind, I feel really sorry for these people. It’s as if they’ve deprived themselves of nutrients, and I feel like they just need vegetables and good quality foods. The problem is that we live in a world where all that fast food is so readily available. It’s so addictive and full of sugar and all of that crap, that you get lost in it.
Credit: Instagram @robynlawley
Buying active wear used to be such a challenge, but it’s quite fashionable right now, and so easy to find. That outfit that I wore to the Westfield’s shoot, it was from The Upside, was really comfortable, and I was like hell yeah! I was really in awe of all the clothes in their new collection. They fitted, they were comfy and it was supportive – that’s what I need in active wear. And I love that kind of style, I live in it day to day, because I’ve got my child. I’m usually in tight leggings, and I’ll throw on a singlet, a tee shirt or crop top, and I love snap-back hats. That’s kind of my style, that kind of laid-back dude.
For me I want women to feel empowered and good about themselves. I’m getting to the point, where I get tired of people thinking about other people’s bodies in these negative concepts. I want people to be more empathetic. I grew up with two sisters with very different body types, and my middle sister, who is the nicest person you’ll ever meet – she’s a paramedic, and saves lives, but she got so bullied because of her size, and I would get into fights and defend her till the cows get home, but I would tear my own self apart. It’s just something that you have to learn, and you do with age. I wish I could tell everyone to not care – they’re probably morons if they’re ridiculing you. Focus on your own health, and your own well-being, and make that your priority for your own reasons.
It’s so funny now, I’m never enough for someone – it’s either I’m not big enough, I’m not small enough, I’m not whatever, it’s always something for someone. But when you’re a model, I always take it with a grain of salt, because your body is your job. I understand. I just try and go, “I feel good, I feel content, I feel happy about my size”. That’s all I try and focus on.
If I could change one thing about the modelling industry, I definitely would include more ethnicities and more age groups. That’s the one thing that’s not being done enough, but we’re slowly seeing this increase with people like Emma Balfour in Westfield’s Frontline Campaign. We’ve seen more diverse catwalks then we’ve ever seen before, and I think that’s amazing. I think because of the Internet, and because of the IPhone, and because of social media, more people are having a say. It’s so much easier for people to switch that off, so you have to be indicative of your market, and be inclusive of everyone.
