Supermodel Secrets For Aging Beautifully with Kim Alexis

*This transcript was auto-generated*

Kim Gravel: All right, Zac. I've, I've got this thing that I'm dealing with, you know, I'm 52, right? And I consider myself pretty like, I don't know, modern hip, you know, a little edgy, you know, I'm not, I don't think, I think young. You know, and I'm out there in the world, you know, squirrel trying to get a nut. I'm still working.

I mean, honestly, my career, my huge part of my career did not take off until I was in my late forties. So like 46, 47. So, you know, I've entered this age of technology and you know, and y'all listening, hands up right where you are. I want you to say hallelujah. Amen. Or raise your hand. If technology is just the bane of your existence, it is mine.

And so, you know, I have a team of people. I probably have like. You know, outside of like 20 or 30 employees, right, Zac, from all the, in the, in, in every kind of vein that we're doing, you know, the peril, the beauty, the, the pod, I mean, all of that, we, we have probably about, what would you say, like a 20 person team, 20, 25?

Zac Miller: Huge. I mean, then there's always more. I'm like learning about new people all the time. Like it's, it's pretty funny actually. 

Kim Gravel: So my mandate. is that we got to get social media. I mean, in 2024, social media is our focus. I hate it. Okay. I hate it so bad. And I can say the word hate because it's the truth. I mean, it is the bane of my existence.

Wait, wait, wait, because of the technology part, are you, are you serious right now? Asking me, 

Zac Miller: do you, do you not like, because you like looking at social media, 

Kim Gravel: the pressure to do social media, do videos. Can you do this real quick and real quick is like, I have anxiety about it and I'm not the only one. I swear to you, I'm not the only one, but it's a business, right?

It's a big business and it's a big part of our business. So I decided to just hire someone to manage. Not the social media, meaning not just the posting and all that, right? Just the actual, like, click, click, post, hashtag, come on, girl. Get your social media done. I mean, not, I'm not doing that. I hired a person to manage me doing social media.

Zac Miller: Genius. Genius idea. 

Kim Gravel: Is it? Because listen to these two videos from my little, my little Rosa, who I hired. Listen to this. Okay. This is what I get today. Two of them today. 

Rosa: Okay. If you have any time at all, I know you're ready today. So even if it's like right before you go to bed, like just five minutes, 10 minutes, anything, just set up your camera like this and take a little video with your earrings on and literally just go in like this.

Show one side. Look front, show the other side, maybe you have your ring and then back to the middle for about 10 seconds. If you could get that for just Let's just do the star necklace and let's do the hoop earrings. Any of the jewelry you can send, any of it. That would be great. Thank you. 

Kim Gravel: Okay. Okay.

So I get that this morning. Okay. So she sends me this list of the social media things I've got to do. Okay. Let me just, I'm just going to, I'm going to read it. I'm going to read it to you. I'm so stressed out. And she CC's Amy so Amy will follow up with me. I work for Rosa now. So yeah. Okay. Yep. Okay. For Rosa and social media, Rosa.

Yep. So she says, Hey queen. Okay. No, I get this early this morning. Wait a minute. So I get this yesterday at 9 42 AM selfie video shot list. Uh huh. Need for LWI videos of you in the jewelry, 10 seconds for each piece video, asking questions to the audience. I got the recipes. I'm like, What the crap? Video of Kim dancing in upcoming Belle apparel.

10 seconds. Kim show. I mean, it's a list. It's a full list. So I never did it. I said, I'll get, I'll see what I can do. So this morning I wake up, I get this video saying, okay, if you can just do this one video. 

Zac Miller: Did you do it? 

Kim Gravel: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I did it. I did it. Finally, like, did it. Getting ready, getting ready for the pod today.

And then I said, girl, I'm gonna try to get all this to you today. I'm so stressed out. Hey, that was it like 11 o'clock. Uh huh. It, Yesterday, 11 o'clock p. m. I said, girl, I'll try to get this out to you tomorrow. Uh huh. And, today at 10 a. m. Hey, hey! Were you able to get these?

Then 1125. That was it. That was 10. 1125. Hey Queen! Uh huh. You be in Savvy Sweet Roast. I ain't working out either. Anything I can do to make your life easier, just let me know. 

Zac Miller: She could clone you. 

Kim Gravel: If you have any time after 1pm today, I can swing by and get some videos if you need me to. 

I said to her, I said, fine, where do I email this video? 

Zac Miller: You know, what's really funny about this, Kim, I just, wait, there's, there's another part to this actually that I want to hold on, let me pull up. 

Kim Gravel: Wait a minute. No. I want to say this too. And so I sent her the video, right? It's sitting here getting ready for the podcast.

And then she sent me another thing to do. Play it. Play the video. Okay. Okay. 

Zac Miller: Play it. Hold on. 

Kim Gravel: How many stupid videos do you need? 

Rosa: Hi! Okay, so here's a really quick, easy video you can do right before you start doing your makeup. Do a little before video like this for about 10 seconds Just enough for me to get enough content if I need to cut it And then you're gonna get your hand and you're gonna cover the camera And then you're gonna stop the video That's gonna be the beginning and then when you're done getting ready You're gonna hit record and then you're gonna cover the camera.

I know and then take the hand off And then i'm gonna have a little transition video And little things like that. So if you could just get that one video, that would be great. And then I'm setting a list of the other things.

Kim Gravel: I can't right now. Hey, queen. Hey, girl. Uh uh. I'm telling you right now. 

Zac Miller: Kim. It's killing me.

Kim, Kim, Kim, Kim. 

Kim Gravel: And then, and then she texted me, then she texted me, can I give you a quick call? I said, I'm taping a podcast, I'll call you later. 

Zac Miller: Okay. I have so much context for this. 

Kim Gravel: I work for, I work, I work for Rosa Social Media. That's, that's my life. Can you do a quick video and go. Uh huh. That's my, that's my career, people.

That's where we're at. 

Zac Miller: Okay. This is so funny because so me and Rosa are also talking, right? Obviously. 

Kim Gravel: Oh my God. 

Zac Miller: I sent her an email. No, no, no, no. This is not my fault. 

Kim Gravel: Are all y'all talking behind my back? 

Zac Miller: Yeah. Oh yeah. 100%. Okay. Yeah. All of us. Yeah. And then I just want to say, so like, We can develop more of a shot list as we move forward.

Just keep this first one low key, and we will help in making this repeatable and sustainable long term for Kim. 

Kim Gravel: Why are you saying keep it low key? Do tell everybody listening why you said to keep it Because this is the point, Kim. Stop. Stop. Tell the absolute Don't tell Zacary. I'm going to keep it appropriate.

Because if it's hard, you're not going to do it. People can handle me. Correct. 

Zac Miller: You're not gonna do it if it's hard. This is exactly the problem. What is hard is what is hard. No hard. Like what is hard for me? 

Kim Gravel: What is hard for me tell the people 

Zac Miller: is hard for you is like, but like honestly, 

Kim Gravel: I'm 52. 

Zac Miller: You're 52, but that's not even it.

It's, there's like a mental load of like. Just having to set up the camera and shoot the video, and it, and it kind of stinks. And if like, but here's the thing, if Rosa was just there, because she's local, then she could just hang out and she could just

Kim Gravel: If Rosa was here and all of y'all heard my day to day conversations It would be Actually, it would be very entertaining.

Zac Miller: Social media gold. Yeah. 

Kim Gravel: Because I am nuttier than a squirrel tart, I'm telling you right now. Y'all would lose your minds, 

Zac Miller: Kim. 

Kim Gravel: Can you just do a quick, can you just do a quick, I mean, every time when somebody says, Kim, it's going to be nothing. This is Zac. It's easy. It's going to be nothing. I mean, if I hear Kim, it's just going to be a quick, no, 

Zac Miller: she needs to go there and stalk you.

That is literally the plan. She needs to go in front of you. 

Kim Gravel: I'm going to tear Amy a new one. I'm tearing Amy a new one. Here we go. Amy, this is what you're going to hear. 

Zac Miller: This is going to be amazing.

Kim Gravel: Okay. Do you know the videos in the request that Zac and, Rosa are sending me? Like, I am this, a freaking AI or something. I can't do all these videos, Amy. 

Amy Goins: I know girl, 

I'm laughing. 

Kim Gravel: No, you're not laughing because I'm telling you right now, it's giving me panic attacks. And then she, and then she doesn't, she doesn't take, hey queen, I mean, the nicer she does it, the worse it's going to be for me.

She might as well just say, listen girl, I know. I really don't know what we're going to do about it. I don't know. It's, I can't do all this social media, Amy. You're on the pod right now with Zac and Zac and I were talking about it and it's, I can't deal. I'm 52. I'm 50 freaking two years old. I've got a slight bowel palsy and I've got a pushup bra and I want to have a Big Mac for lunch.

I mean, there's issues here. Okay. And then Rosa says, Kim, can I just come tape you behind the scenes? What would people say? You're on the pod right now. What would people see? If they take, or here, if they take behind the scenes with me, tell the people Amy. 

Amy Goins: Oh, it would be pretty boring, yes. 

Kim Gravel: No, it wouldn't be boring.

You're boring, I'm not boring. Oh my god, bye, I'm hanging up, you are no help, bye. That was amazing. Amy, that was so good. Zac, when I see you in person, I'm a huggy neck and a slap your face. Okay. I'm telling you, I'm sick of talking about 

Zac Miller: Yeah, you're welcome. You're welcome, Kim. So, no, we're, I'm trying to make it easy for you, but also get what the brand needs because do you how the world for video, you're me, 

Kim Gravel: there's, I'm very mysterious

There is like how many steps? It is like 50 steps. Can you do this? Can you do I cannot. I cannot. 

Zac Miller: I bet that's it. But here's the thing. Every time you go and do a video, it's really good. It stresses me out. Do you understand the stress? No, I get that you're stressed. I mean, I don't record social videos of myself for the same reason.

Kim Gravel: I'm not the only video guy, 

Zac Miller: Kim. 

Kim Gravel: Kim Alexis ain't doing social media. She got coming up on the show today. She ain't doing all that. I'm telling you right now. It's hard. It's a full time job. Well, that's why. It really is. You're right. I mean, and it's so I, I think that I'm just saying to everybody listening, hush you a millennial hush it up these Gen Zers hush it up for all our Gen Xers and you know who you are.

You feel my pain on the social media and all this technology stuff. I love you. I'm with you and we're going to start our own support group, socialmediasucks. com. All right, sign up. 

Zac Miller: Can I say sucks? I'm sure. I'm sure that's already a website. What is that website? Where did you just send people?

Dot org dot org. Oh, all right. It just says we are permanently closed. I don't know what that means. 

Kim Gravel: That means I'm permanently closed. 

Zac Miller: Yeah, there you go. We're going, I'm telling y'all. I love you. Oh, I have the perfect sound effect to bring this entire segment to a close so we can actually just start the show.

We're talking to a supermodel today, Kim. I have Kim the beauty queen and Kim the supermodel on the show and I'm excited to do that. Can we, can we do that? 

Kim Gravel: Yeah, go to commercial. Let's go. 

Zac Miller: All right. Well, here, check it out. This is the bet. This is how we're going to end this. 

Kim Gravel: Okay. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?

Double homicide. 

All

right, everybody. I am so excited because we have the original, the OG supermodel on the show today. Kim Alexis. I know you've heard her name a million times. I know I have in the eighties. I mean, I was just obsessed. I was a big fan and she's been featured on over 500 magazine covers, including Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and five on the cover of five, no, excuse me, six sports illustrated magazine covers.

I can't. The issues, Kim. Anyway, she writes a column for Men's Journal and she's the author of 11 books, including Cheat Eat. Hello. Keep Comfort Food on the menu. Let's welcome Kim Alexis! Okay, Kim. Right? Let me just go ahead and just say, let's get all the fun stuff out. What was it like being a supermodel?

Cause you were supermodel in the eighties and nineties, weren't you? 

Kim Alexis: I started in 78 before the term was originated and just worked super hard. And, maybe, I don't know exactly which year the term came up. It was probably like 83, 84. At that point, I had a Revlon. Contract with ultimate to and I probably started hearing that term.

I'm like, what is what is a supermodel? And they're like, you are darling. And I thought, okay, 

Kim Gravel: it's like, like, give me the experience, Kim, because everybody, everybody knows you. I mean, you were a household name. I've been a big fan of yours forever. I always thought you were just. Perfect. Not only were you the girl next door, you looked real.

You were a natural, real, you know, God given beauty. And I loved how you leveraged that into this a massive career. What was it like, you know, back in the day being that supermodel as it was emerging on the scene? 

Kim Alexis: Well, first of all, in order to get there, we worked all the time. So I would get 14 job offers a day and get to pick and choose.

And there were only so many hours in the day. I remember sometimes doing three different magazine covers in one day. So we didn't have feedback. And I was so busy working that it was kind of me isolated, not realizing that I was affecting the rest of the world. So for me, it was just. I didn't know. I was just busy.

I was just working. 

Kim Gravel: You were just working. How did you get into modeling, Kim? Like, did you, was that always something you aspired to do? Or how did that, how did that come about? 

Kim Alexis: No, I wanted to be a pharmacist. I was enrolled at University of Rhode Island in their five year pharmacy program. I was on their swim team.

And this was early in my senior year in high school. So I figured, all right, I've already figured that out. So why don't I try and make extra money? And someone said, you're pretty, you should try and model. I was like, Oh, really? Cause I was a tomboy. I was swimming five and a half hours a day. So after swim practice, I would drive to Buffalo in the winter and I would go to these modeling classes because I had to attend classes before I could become a model and model in Buffalo.

Well, I never modeled in Buffalo. I got discovered in one of the classes. I got called out and I literally thought they were kicking me out of the class instead of asking me to go because I was a fish out of water. I didn't belong there. I didn't know how to pluck my eyebrows, how to walk, how to put makeup on.

I was a tomboy. 

Kim Gravel: So what was like one of the most important things you learned in modeling class? Because nowadays, you know, to be a model now, I was going. 

Kim Alexis: This was back in the days where they put the stack of books on your head. I mean, how to sit down properly and how to open and close a door. I mean, what part of that is necessary?

I mean, there was makeup tips and different things and how to bring lingerie to a shoot. And when I got to New York, people said, just forget all that because If it's too much in your mind, then you can't be you and you get frozen and you're not going to be good. So that spontaneous inner personality needs to come out.

And you can do that only by not thinking and worrying about what you should be doing. 

Kim Gravel: Oh Lord, that that's your next book. I mean, that's, you know, how to be authentic.

Kim Alexis: I think of all the critique of all the people on social media. They're like, Oh, that makeup thing. Look, makes you look harsh and maybe you should wear more and why are you doing this and you put your plush in the wrong spot and that's not a good lipstick for you.

And it can be crazy. So I just said, I don't care. I mean, I get to the point where it's like, I don't care. I just am who I am. I just pick an outfit and go. 

Kim Gravel: I think that's the key to, to success, but I think it's also a key to life is that authenticity. 

Kim Alexis: I think you're your most authentic when you trust and believe.

That you've got it and just it's okay to be you. 

Kim Gravel: Okay. And so you talk about aging naturally. I love y'all got to go check out Kim's website. It's so good. And she talks about aging naturally. Cause I'm, I'm 52. I just turned, I'm getting ready to turn 53 in July. I'm going to be 64. What? Okay. Yeah, we get into the aging naturally.

Here we go. So let's get into it. How do you define aging naturally? 

Kim Alexis: I think it's number one, you again, being confident in yourself, that you don't have to keep up with anybody. If you want to tweak or do something, you should feel confident. It's okay. I'm not here to condemn anyone else. They can do whatever they want.

But for me, I didn't want to do all that messing around. I didn't want to tweak my face. I didn't want to inject it. I didn't want Botox. Makeup artists used to say to me, I know you didn't do Botox because I can tell the texture of your skin, how the makeup fits on your skin. And nobody talks about that.

So for me, I thought, well, why am I going to mess with stuff? I just. You know, it is what it is. And I mean, I just recently got all the blonde out of my hair. This is my natural color. And this is the gray I've got. And people are squawking and girlfriend, I'm never going to stop blonding my hair. And I'm like, that's fine for you, but I'm trying to figure out me.

And when I go and get the blonde highlights and my hair more blonde, I would get a massive headache for days. So I thought I'm avoiding. toxins, I'm avoiding things that are going to cause me to feel sick or feel bad or down the road 20, 30 years from now, not be able to move or break a bone or whatever it is or not be able to remember you.

And so I'm trying to stay as natural as God put me on this earth and stay away from things that are going to mess me up. 

Kim Gravel: Well, and I think that you're giving us alternatives. I, when you talk about eating like comfort food. And how to do that in a more healthy way. You had me cause I just recently lost a good, like 50 pounds over the last nine months.

And can I tell you the one thing I love to do more than anything is eat. And I listen, don't you? I mean, I heard you say that on a show you were on, you're like, I love to eat. So I wanted to get. What are some of the best substitutions, girl? And I know they got to get the book. You really got to get the book because it gives, I mean, chocolate chip cookies, Kim, really?

Kim Alexis: I would run marathons for chocolate chip cookies. Didn't the 26. 2 miles. I did eight marathons. 

Kim Gravel: How many cookies, how many cookies did you get girl? 

Kim Alexis: Yes. 

Kim Gravel: Yeah. I love it. But what, what are some of the secrets to, you know, aging naturally in a healthy way and still looking good and feeling good? Because your, your take on food and health, like do you eat to live or are you, were you like me?

Do you live to eat? 

Kim Alexis: I do both. I am so. I, to me, the three to me cheating is baked goods for other people. It might be gifts for others. That might be something bitter. For me, I like sweets, so I love myself. We're talking cookies. So in that you have flowers. You have sugars and you have fats. There are many ways to substitute all three of those.

So if you don't want sugars and you don't want to raise or spike your glucose, you can use monk fruit, but then there's healthy fats or different fats. So you could use coconut oil instead of butter. use butter instead of, vegetable oil, like canola oil, all these weird things that are out there. Right.

And then for flowers, there's chickpea flour and there's coconut flour. There's almond flour. And there's, I, my favorite is, iron corn, which is a non hybridized wheat flour. It has not been messed with. And it is a. Complete heritage flour. That is the way God made wheat, and we've messed that up. Hmm. So I love myself.

My EOR flour. I'm into sourdough right now, so I'm baking. I love sourdough . I love sourdough. Takes my kitchen. So I'm constantly baking new things, but sourdough bread digests easier and. putting friendly, healthy bacteria in your body, of course, as good as we're all learning and hearing all the time. So there are many things that you can do that are helpful.

Kim Gravel: So for people who don't understand all of this, like myself, like I know that, processed foods are not the best for our health. I know that. I mean, like, 

Kim Alexis: I'm a big believer that God designed our bodies and he designed them to take them to reset, reheal, regenerate. And so if we put in food that he supplied us, or our bodies, then you have the best recipe for being able to regenerate and regrow and repair and restore. And so that's why I like to have my body recognized.

God who made my body with God who made my food and therefore things are going to work better. 

Kim Gravel: Oh, that's a good way to think. That's a good way to, to, you know, to connect the two things, you know, that, that, that is absolutely the truth. So let me just say this. We're talking about comfort food and alternatives to comfort food.

How, what do you say? Because for me, the drive thru and Zac will tell you, I was addicted to the drive thrus, honey. I mean, I could eat me a Big Mac meal as just as fast as I could get it. How do you, how do you combat the convenience? Everything is convenient now to get food, Kim. How do you, okay.

Kim Alexis: Preparation. 

Kim Gravel: All right. 

Kim Alexis: So if you have some healthy alternative in your purse, in your car, wherever it is, You're not going to have as much of a desire when you're hungry to break down or, or whatever you would call it, kind of cheat. So for me, I've got healthy stuff all around the house. My pantry is stocked with things that are good and I don't put in things that are bad.

So even if I'm hungry and I walk in there, I'm going to find something that's a better alternative. 

Kim Gravel: Are there foods that can really combat aging or help you age naturally and gracefully and beautifully? I mean, because that's in your book a little bit. Like you say stuff about green tea. I didn't even know.

Can you talk to, can you give our girl a little bit of nuggets of what we should be eating? Some quick, some quick tips. 

Kim Alexis: I'm a fresh fruit and vegetable person. I try to eat a salad a day. And then I love dressing. I love creamy dressing. So how do you make that that's healthy? And so you can make your own there and use avocado oil or coconut or whatever, whatever you like.

 Those things are big to me. I am a coffee drinker. I like that better than green tea in the morning. So, There gets to be a point, even if you're listening to me, the audience, where you say, she's saying I can't have anything good and I just have to, for the rest of my life, know what, you know, sacrifice, or I'm not going to be, I'm going to miss out.

No, I mean, if there's something you really have to have, and it's not that healthy, but that's all you think about. Then have it and just make the rest of your diet better because sometimes you can beat yourself up as you know mentally. Oh yeah. I can't have anything. Life is miserable. You know, it's what's the sense of being happy because I can't have anything or I can't do anything or I can't go to a party and, It's mindset.

It's healthy mindset. So I never drink alcohol anymore. And I love going to parties. I don't care if I'm talking to someone who's had three cocktails. I have myself a blast. So it's my, it's 

Kim Gravel: fun. Yeah. Yeah. You know, sometimes not having to drink and everybody else's is way more fun. 

Kim Alexis: I look like I've had the drink.

Cause I kind of suck other people's energy and I can just get it. You know, crazy as they can. I just lose. 

Kim Gravel: Okay. Right. Do you, you used to swim like five hours a day. Okay. And I, I, I don't know. Every time I see the swimmers, their bodies are perfect. How much do you exercise now? 

Kim Alexis: Well, I have to watch what I do.

If I can't be one of those, it does two, three hours a day because my adrenals. So I wrote a book on adrenals called nap zap. and my thyroid is off. And so for me, I, my mind wants to go, but 30 minutes of cardio, 30, 45 minutes of cardio. And then I love going to the gym. I love lifting and going over where all the dumbbells are and lifting with all the young guys.

Cause I'm a mother of three boys. So I just love being over in that area with the guys. And, I don't think they realize that I'm 63 and as old as their mothers and still plugging 22 pounds around, but, 

Kim Gravel: You know what they don't realize Kim, they don't realize that their dads had posters and magazines of you in there, you know, when they were growing up, you know what I'm saying?

Kim Alexis: Like I just, how do you look back on those young days as a supermodel and, and how does that apply to your life today? Well, I, 

my biggest thing I think is watching all of the boxes of the work that I did. So I have an occupation where. you can physically visibly see what I would do. And so I've got probably six banker boxes full of the tear sheets and covers.

And I worked all the time. And I want to tell young kids, these influences, whatever you want to be, you have to work work today and things being dropped in your lap. It's a fairytale and it's not going to last. It's not going to work. Keep your head down. Don't go on vacation. Don't have any fun, whatever it is.

If you want to be successful, you've got to put in the time. 

Kim Gravel: You got to put it. And see, even after your modeling, you had such a huge career. You were the fashion editor at good morning America, I think for three years, a TV presenter, how an author, I mean, how, what has been the key to your, because a lot of people think we're one dimensional, right?

Especially as women, sometimes we get. We get pigeonholed. How did you continue on to have such a successful career outside of, you know, your cover, your supermodel status? 

Kim Alexis: Well, I was more or less retired from modeling at the age of 25. My Revlon contract ended. I hadn't been exclusive with them. So now I have no other jobs coming in.

And. If I was going to go back to being the way I was before my contract, people are like, what are you doing here? You don't belong here. Wow. You're a supermodel. So I'm like, okay. So I started looking around. I'm like, what else am I good at? What else, what new craft, what new skills can I learn? So I learned how to interview.

I went on good morning America. I learned, what it took to be on live TV and to present and just went off into speaking. I was on the speaking circuit and then now writing. And I like the idea of being credible. I like the idea of giving back and I am a true believer that too much is given, much is required.

I was given a lot. It is my job to mentor and to teach and to, help the younger generation. I'm setting up a jail ministry. 

with, a bunch of people here in Phoenix. So one is Dressed for Success and the other is St. Vincent DePaul. And we're doing a new program for these women who have come out of the jail system and really want to get back into the workplace.

Kim Gravel: Now, would you ever go back to modeling camp? Like if someone, if Revlon called you tomorrow and said, we need your girl, would you do it? 

Kim Alexis: Yes, I would. I would probably want to see what they were putting in, or if I could do. Products that were more in line with what I believed in, which is trying to avoid and stay away from bad chemicals.

So in Europe, they have, I wrote a book called Skin Within. In Europe, they have banned like, the number changes depending on what website, but like 13, 000 or 1300 different chemicals that we still allow here in the United States. So for me, we have to be our own policemen and we have to look ourselves and read all our labels and, It can make you crazy.

So sometimes you just have to slowly throw things out or slowly change. 

Kim Gravel: Where is a, a resource, Kim, do you have this on your website where, we can find out good, credible places and good, credible products, beauty products, skin products, even food. Do you have any, suggestions or can we just, can we go to your website?

Kim Alexis: EWG is Environmental Working Group. They are a very good app. A good website resource, they list laundry detergents, and baby products, and hair products, and cosmetics. Another one is called, believe it or not, Think Dirty. It is an app that you can use. They've reviewed and researched 2. 4 million products.

So you can scan, you can use your phone. Oh, wow. And then Yucca is another one, Y U K A, and they've got, foods and different things. 

Kim Gravel: Yeah, that's it. Okay, so, what is next for you, Kim? Like, what is on the horizon? Do you have, are you still setting goals? Are you still, are you still doing all of those things?

Because I'm telling you, I could, you're a type A, right? Would you, would you consider yourself a driven type A person? I think so. After reading. I don't like 

Kim Alexis: sitting around and not doing anything. Me neither. People are like, I mean, cause I'm 63, right? And going to be 64 and people like, Oh, you can just sit around and relax and put your, and I'm like, what?

No. I don't want to do that. I want to be working till I'm like 90 or a hundred somewhere. So again, that's mindset. I think, you know, where is your head at and what do you think is important and where's your values and where's your, your goals? So mine. I'm driven to encourage, to inspire and to help other people.

And so I've got a meeting today. I've got tons of meetings. I've got a contract in the works, to be wellness spokesperson, somebody who is, speaking out for health and wellness in so many areas. So the men's journal helps. And I just continue building onto that of finding new and different ways to educate and inspire.

Kim Gravel: Well, I'm going to call you. So you were called a supermodel for supermodel, the original supermodel. Now you're the natural supermodel and that's what I'm calling you. I don't care. We're starting a new trend right here today. All right. When we come back, we have what we call Kim, the rapid fire questions, and we're going to be asking you questions and you just have to, what comes up comes out, which is not going to be a problem for you after this.

All right. Welcome back y'all this week. I have got a listener voicemail from Mary Ann, but I'm saving it. I'm saving it as an exclusive for the Love Who You Are community. This is just to our newsletter subscribers only and it's free to join my newsletter. You're just going to go to KimGravelShow.com and sign up. You'll be able to access so much bonus content like listener voicemails, behind the scenes, videos, all of that kind of good stuff. And then you'll be a part of this community. I mean, this community. Shores each other up supports one another and stands in the gap for one other like nothing I've ever seen.

So go to KimGravelShow.com and sign up to get all the extra goodies and know and always remember that I love you. And you have got to love who you are right where you're at. All right. Check it out. Love you guys. All right. We're back with Kim Alexis, the original supermodel. Once a supermodel, always a supermodel.

Kim, is that the motto? 

Kim Alexis: I would like to think so. I like the truth former drives me nuts. Let's not say original. I like the word original. There you go. I'm like, don't we get to keep the title? 

Kim Gravel: I think you keep the title, hun. I mean, I could see you just killing a photoshoot right now, because when you told me you were almost 64, Kim, I was like, There's no way that is possible.

And then you said you had three grown sons and your youngest is 30. 

Kim Alexis: My oldest is going to be 38 on April fools. 

Kim Gravel: Kim, hashtag Kim Alexis goals. Okay. We do this in every show where we just ask random questions and the first thing that comes up should come out. Okay. What is one thing? You would un invent.

Kim Alexis: Oh my goodness. I know, it's a good one. I'm normally quick on my feet. Um, toxins. 

Kim Gravel: See, I knew you were going to say that. Right. Toxins, that's a good one. That is, and that is truth. Alright, what is your favorite photo shoot ever? 

Kim Alexis: Probably my first Vogue cover with Avedon. I'd been working for a year and I had done a lot of other covers, but to have my first American Vogue cover with him was really special.

Kim Gravel: Was it huge? I mean, like, what is that like? Is that like, is it what we see in Devil Wears Prada? I mean, what, what does it like? 

Kim Alexis: Well, the Devil Wears Prada was kind of behind the scenes and yeah, that goes on. It does? Well, yeah, the, the, yeah, the berating and, yeah. So you just have to stay strong in yourself.

But Avedon and I could do a cover. Once I had my hair, my makeup and everything done, which would take sometimes three hours, I could do a cover in four shots with him. 

Kim Gravel: Do you have what you, do you have, still have some of the things you wore on some of the covers? 

Kim Alexis: No, they never give you anything. You have to give it back always.

You never, ever, ever keep the clothes. Ever. 

Kim Gravel: What's the perk then? Just the gig? 

Kim Alexis: Yep. The gig. The photos. You do editorial, which is your Vogue, Glamour, Madness, all those. And that, you don't get paid very much at all, like a couple hundred bucks. And that is just used to get you other jobs, which would be catalog work, which would be more money.

Kim Gravel: See, see, we, misconception, we think you're making millions doing covers and no, that was not the case. No. So you just worked hard. The grind. All right. Yeah. What is one thing you own that you would put in a time capsule for future generations to find? 

Kim Alexis: I don't know, maybe a picture of my family. 

Kim Gravel: Mm hmm.

That's a good one. And maybe slip of, maybe slip of swimsuits, illustrated coat. Just for fun. Do it. Just for fun. So two pictures. What's the strangest thing that ever happened to you on set? 

Kim Alexis: Oh no, we're not talking about that. 

Kim Gravel: We can't. Not one thing. Just give us one little nugget. Spill the tea a little bit.

Kim Alexis: Well, I mean, I would be working, let's say, for a French company and you're on set and you've got all the people around behind you, behind the lights. watching and they'd say take off your top. I'm like, what? They're like, yes, it would be art. And I'm like, no, it wouldn't. 

Kim Gravel: It's called, I'm naked.

Kim Alexis: You're mad at me and I'd have to leave.

I'd have to walk off set and leave the studio. 

Kim Gravel: So that is the boundaries we're talking about here. 

Kim Alexis: Yeah. And then when you call your agency, you would think your agency would have your back because they work for you. You're paying them commission. They work for you. But who, who lasts a couple of years and then who, what type of relationship do they have with magazines and Cosmetic ads.

And so I learned very quickly that I was on my own. 

Kim Gravel: Ugh, I know, but you know what, can I just say, I think, like, there's such a, a huge nugget for young people, Kim, this whole boundary. What you said is so profound, we could do a whole entire series on that because the people with the social media and there is so much pressure to compromise.

Whew! Yep. 

Kim Alexis: Well, even my contemporaries, they're posting pictures that are not that they're very revealing. That's a word. And I don't know why they're in their sixties like me. And even actresses, a lot of them are doing stuff. And I thought it's just not necessary. 

Kim Gravel: I, I, and I'm right there with you. I completely agree.

Do you, what do you have zero tolerance for? 

Kim Alexis: Manipulation. 

Kim Gravel: Okay. When do you know, or when did you know you had made it? 

Kim Alexis: Probably when someone said that term, you're a supermodel. And I'm like, I had, yeah, so when I had that label put on, as I said, I probably already had my Revlon contract. So you'd think having the Revlon contract would have done it, but again, I was busy working.

So it wasn't until someone put a label on that I realized, lifted my head and said, Oh, the rest of the world must know who I am. 

Kim Gravel: Hmm. I mean, it's kind of good though. It's kind of cool where you were just kind of unaffected. I think that is that I think that's a huge part of success, right? It's just like you said, head down doing the work.

Would you say that? And but in not being it was work. 

Kim Alexis: Well, you don't make decisions based on either to me on what others are asking for, what others are demanding. I'm in the middle of creating new things now and they said, search all the other competitors and see what they're doing. I'm like, no, I know what I want to do.

I know who I am. I know what I want it to say and to do and to be. And so I'm not going to conform to what other people are doing. I'm going to do my own thing. 

Kim Gravel: Yeah, I think that's your next book. I'm serious. That would be, I mean, I think that would be a bestseller because everybody is wanting to be their authentic self and you give us permission to do it.

Okay, what is your best advice on posing for a picture? 

Kim Alexis: I loved reading the photographer's body. And so I'm good at reading other people. And so sometimes the photographer would start to do this. And so I do that. And he's like, Oh, beautiful, beautiful. And I'm like, Oh, 

Kim Gravel: that mirror, that mimic that's perfect.

Yeah, he would be doing what you were supposed to. That's great. That's great advice, Kim, for life. Like if someone's talking to you and you're negotiating, that's a good way to, okay, we are learning all kinds of things from this original supermodel. Okay. What's one thing about being a supermodel you most love?

And you most hate it. 

Kim Alexis: Most love is the platform to be able to speak and to encourage and to inspire. And the thing I don't like is that everybody feels that they can critique and criticize you. that, you know, like when you were pregnant and everyone felt they could touch your belly, right, right, right.

That, that like access. Well, they do that with me on social media. So I post Instagram videos or whatever it is. And I get criticized for, for how I look or how I did my hair. So I used to have hair down to my butt, really like this time I cut it all off and I gave it away to children with hair loss. So they made wigs with it.

Right. So. And now I like the short hair, but everybody felt like they had an opinion on that. And then I decided to not color it anymore. And so everyone had an opinion on that. So for me, it, it mostly doesn't hurt, but I'd prefer that they wouldn't do it. 

Kim Gravel: Yeah. I mean, you're human, but at the same time that your identity is not your, your booty, your hair, you know, you, you love who you are and you love how God made you.

And that is. To me, that is the biggest accomplishment of all. I mean, when you get that 

Kim Alexis: I'm just trying Yeah, I'm trying not to strive. Strength isn't softy and I just need to be me. And I don't love the color of this hair, but that's my color. Right. So now what? You know, so it's just, we got to deal with stuff.

And somebody, somebody Or masking things over or screaming louder, thinking that's going to change stuff. It's just a lot of crud. Sometimes acceptance and moving on and focusing on something else is the smartest thing to do. 

Kim Gravel: It's the smartest thing. Yeah. Pivot. Pivot. Okay. Favorite junk food. Now, not healthy junk food.

I mean that raw, you know, junk food that you don't eat anymore, but you loved it when you did. 

Kim Alexis: Cookies. I mean, I still love them. It is cookies. Yeah. There's healthy cookies. And then there's. crappy in the bag cookies. So I used to love Chips Ahoy. 

Kim Gravel: You know, sometimes a little Chip Ahoy just hits the spot. I totally get it.

Now, do you like the soft ones or the hard ones? 

Kim Alexis: Hard. 

Kim Gravel: Mmm, the crunchies. Now, now you know I'm gonna go buy me a bag of Chips Ahoy. Thank you. Celebrity Crush. Oh, this. Crush. Okay. Okay. Okay. So if you don't have a celebrity crush, who was that guy that back when you were a supermodel that asked you out or that you dated or that asked you out and you didn't date?

Oh, this is a good one. Now Kim, spill the tea. 

Kim Alexis: Yeah, so a guy that had his secretary call me to ask me out, but I wouldn't because he wouldn't call, was John Kennedy, Jr. 

Kim Gravel: Kim!

Are you kidding me? May he rest in peace. Are you kidding me? 

Kim Alexis: And then one that I didn go out with was Prince Albert. 

Kim Gravel: I'm dying right now! Oh my gosh! Was he nice? 

Kim Alexis: He was so nice. He was such a gentleman. We had such a good time. 

Kim Gravel: God, girl, John Kennedy Jr. Lord have mercy. 

Kim Alexis: And I had an unlisted number back then.

We used to have unlisted numbers, right? I'm like, I paid extra money to have this unlisted number. How did you get it? She says, I'll tell you if you go out with him. And I'm like, no, I'm not going out with him. 

Kim Gravel: See those are those boundaries girls those I mean even with John F. Kennedy jr. Ask you out got to have boundaries, okay?

That is that Zac that's the best thing we've ever heard on the show. 

Zac Miller: That's that's incredible 

Kim Gravel: that's a biggie was there anybody you wanted to go out with Kim, but didn't 

Kim Alexis: No I was working I wasn't thinking too much about all that 

Zac Miller: would guys not ask you out because they were intimidated like is that something that happened?

Because you were such a big deal 

Kim Alexis: Yes, and I think I had, now you're a guy so you would know, but I had that inner thing of, I'm ready to smack you if you go too far. That's why I love you. That's why I was ready to just, I was gonna beat him. So when my oldest son was born, he was seven months old and I'd have him in my arms holding it.

And he would punch people. And so I'm like, well, because he punches, and I thought, where did he get that from? And I'm like, Oh, I guess that was me. 

Kim Gravel: But see, Kim, that's, that's, that's one of the reasons I absolutely love you. Like, you are just balls to the walls. You're not taking no crap off of nobody. And can I just say something?

Probably men love that because men love a chase. They love what they can't have. So I bet the men were chasing you. 

Kim Alexis: Oh, no, they'd see my eyes and I'd be like, mm mm, don't go there. 

Kim Gravel: Y'all. Okay. That's just, that's your second next book. Okay. How to get a man and knock him out. Right. All in one day. Okay. That's it.

What is your favorite recipe from your book? Cheat Eat. 

Kim Alexis: Do we have to go back to chocolate chip cookies again? I mean, I love hummus too. 

Kim Gravel: Oh, I love hummus. 

Kim Alexis: I think hummus are in there. So, I mean, I wrote that book a long time ago, but, um. 

Kim Gravel: I love that book though. It's timeless. 

Kim Alexis: So making chocolate chip cooking dough, because I like the dough also, and using chickpeas instead of flour at all, so that was kind of interesting.

Kim Gravel: Okay, y'all got to go get Kim's book. Kim, I just, I love you. I'm a big fan. I love how you're aging naturally and still absolutely beautiful. You've got to come back and be with us. Y'all anywhere you can find, you can find you on social media. You can follow Kim Alexis on her Instagram at the Kim Alexis.

 Her website, KimAlexis.com is a good, great website. Lots of, interesting things there. And you can also find her book Cheat Eat and her Wealth of Health series on Amazon Kindle. Make sure you check out her column, for the men's journal and Kim, you are the original supermodel. 

Kim Alexis: Well, thank you.

Thanks for having me and for asking great questions. Thank you for being here. Yeah, hopefully we'll fire somebody and have them set the trees and go punch somebody. 

Kim Gravel: Okay, I have another listener rapid fire question this week. It's a good one. Who would you want to sit next to on a six hour flight? All right, so answer that and how you do that is just put your answer in the comments or send me your answer by contacting me on my website, KimGravelShow. com. Who would you want to sit next to on a six hour flight? Alright guys, until next time, I'm Kim, 

Zac Miller: I'm Zac, thanks for watching. 

Kim Gravel: We love ya.

The Kim Gravel Show is produced and edited by Zac Miller at Uncommon Audio. Our associate producer is Kathleen Grant, the Brunette Exec. Production help from Emily Bredin and Sara Noto. Our cover art is designed by Sanaz Huber at Memarian Creative, and Mike Kligerman edits the show.Our guest booking is done by Central Talent Booking. And a special thanks to the team at QVC. Head over to kimgravelshow.com and sign up for our mailing list. Again, we can't do this without you. So thank you for listening and we love you.