Caitriona Balfe has earned legions of loyal fans from her portrayal of Claire Fraser in the hit Starz drama Outlander but before she was an actress she was a model.
The striking star had a career as a successful model walking runways for fashion houses such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Givenchy.
Back in 2002, when she was in her early 20s, Caitriona also strutted her stuff for Victoria's Secret and looked phenomenal on the catwalk as one of their angels.
In photos from the show, Caitriona - who was scouted while collecting money for charity in a supermarket when she was 18 - modeled a series of lingerie sets for the brand's annual show.
While she oozed confidence, she's since revealed that modeling is a very difficult game to be in as a young woman. "You're supposed to automatically be this fun, interesting, edgy person that fashion people want to be around," she revealed on the podcast, The Million. "But then at the same time you have to be so skinny and so androgynous.
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"There was always people doing better and constantly being compared to people. "I think, as a young woman in your teens and twenties, that’s really hard, it's hard enough anyway.
© Getty Images"You know, there's so many times where you would go into castings or even fittings for jobs that you already supposedly had and somebody in the room would just be annihilating how you look or your lack of personality or you talk too much."
She added: "All in front of you. It's really tough. I have so much admiration for girls who can come through that unscathed."
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Catriona is aware that her career as a model paved the way for opportunities she might not have received otherwise, but they did come at a cost.
© Getty Images"In one way, it opens up so many doors and it does open your mind to so many things and it does give you an incredible education in a certain way. But in another way, it infantilizes you and it stunts you in so many other ways, and I think it takes a while to sort of like rebalance all of that."
When she was 27, she quit the modeling world. Caitriona told The Guardian. "Modeling does two things. It gives you a really, really tough exterior and then a really broken interior."
© Getty ImagesShe continued: "Everyone's experience is different, but I know my confidence and my self-esteem when I finished was in the toilet. Being in that for so long can leave you pretty messed up for a little bit."
She decided to pursue acting, and after a small, albeit uncredited, role on The Devil Wears Prada, she landed supporting roles in the films Super 8, Now You See Me and Escape Plan.
In 2014, she was cast as Claire Fraser on Outlander opposite Sam Heughan, a role which has propelled her into superstardom.
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