Name: Aimee Mullins
Date: 27 September 1998
Place: London
Facts: Aimee Mullins, 25, was already a paralympic record holder when she was approached by Alexander McQueen to model in his couture show in 1998. As an amputee, she walked the runway on legs designed for her by McQueen. Mullins is now pursuing a career in acting
My move into modelling from being a Paralympic record holder was almost a fluke. I mentioned in an article in International Design magazine that it would be great to have a pair of beautifully designed legs; I found it weird that all that doctors could offer was a wooden leg with a rubber foot - especially in America, where we're so obsessed with aesthetics.
Nick Knight, the photographer, saw this, told Alexander McQueen and they asked me if I'd be interested in being photographed for Dazed & Confused and modelling in the McQueen show.
I knew absolutely nothing about fashion, but the idea of modelling really interested me. It started after a speaking engagement at a conference one day, when a man said to me: 'You're really beautiful. You don't look disabled.' I wasn't offended, but it made me think that he obviously didn't really think of me as disabled, or he wouldn't have said that to me. I obviously looked like his idea of 'one of us', rather than 'them'.
It struck me that people found me very sexy, but if you sat them down and said to them, 'There's someone over there who's missing both legs from the shin down', most people would never find that sensual. Yet when people saw me as a whole package, without realising, they felt all those things that aren't supposed to happen. Modelling seemed a sneaky way to make a point about that.
I knew the McQueen show was going to be a big deal, but I didn't realise how major it would be. The day itself was terrifying, but great. I didn't get the legs that Alexander had designed until one o'clock and the show started at seven. Erin O'Connor was particularly lovely to me. I panicked because one of the outfits was so tight it hardly allowed me to walk on the legs, but she calmed me down and we found a way I could move.
The legs were so magnificent; people thought they were boots. It was amazing to be part of such a beautiful show. My hotel room was full of flowers and I woke up the next morning hardly able to believe I had done it.
The friction started when I arrived in the lobby of the hotel to find paparazzi in the lobby.
I hadn't even gotten off the plane from London when a reporter from a British tabloid arrived at my parents' house in the States. It was a real shock for me. Looking back, I was quite naive and I didn't think about the flip side of doing what I wanted to do - that people might write things that are incorrect or hurtful.
Le Figaro ran a piece quoting Pierre Berge, who didn't see the show, but called Alexander a 'voyeur-provocateur' and suggested the show was exploitative. They even ran a picture of Heather Mills with my name under it. The Associated Press picked up on the story, but only focused on the controversy - and suddenly people were saying, 'Aimee Mullins was involved in this controversial event.' It was even in my home-town paper, which I used to deliver when I was a kid.
That's more or less why I pulled out of doing press for a while. I realised I wasn't ready for that sort of fall-out and longevity is more important to me than being the model of the moment.
Acting has been a love of mine ever since I could talk. If I had to psychoanalyse myself, it was to do with escapism during long periods in hospital as a child. At the moment, I'm auditioning for parts, and I've starred in Cremaster 3, a film by artist Matthew Barney. It's playing in the Guggenheim at the moment.
This is the most natural state I have been in for a long time. If feels as if I've finally come home and I can focus all my energy on this. It was weird that I gained fame in other arenas first.
My athletics background has been a help, although at first I was frightened that it might be a hindrance. I'm now up for parts against girls who've been doing this for 10 years, and I panicked last year, thinking, 'Oh God, I spent all that time doing lots of other stuff and I should have just gone for acting when I was 18.'
The funny thing is, though, I have a fantastic acting coach. He trains high-profile people like James Gandolfini and Jennifer Connelly, and I thought I'd just call him up and get him, the same way I got my athletics coach. I left a message on his machine, saying, 'I'm not your average 20-something blonde trying to break into the movies, so I think this could be interesting for you.' After some resistance on his part, I auditioned for him. At the end of the audition, he said, 'You're good. You could be great, so I'll train you.'
In some ways, you're being tested in acting to see what your breaking point is, and that's what made me realise that my other work hasn't been a waste of time. I had to pay my rent and make a living at the end of college by doing speaking engagements, which was terrifying.
It was like a track competition; my adrenaline would be pumping and it's a question of channelling that energy into your performance and being comfortable with the idea of thousands of pairs of eyes on you.
It's wonderful to feel that it all happened for a reason and I have a huge bank of experiences I can draw on. I feel like I've had nine lives already.
