Yfke Sturm lives life

She has been a top model for twenty years, was the face of Calvin Klein, was booked for the big campaigns, walked the Victoria’s Secret shows with Tyra Banks and Heidi Klum, and worked with the greatest photographers. Last year she gave birth to son Alexander and almost lost her own life.“Now that you mention it, I suddenly have to cry.”

Yfke the model

“People sometimes say that being a model is just a matter of looking into the camera, and sometimes I just agree. ‘Yeah, super easy.’ I don’t feel the need to tell every time that being a model is a tough job. You have to adapt to your client. What’s that animal called that crawls on the ground and keeps changing color? A chameleon. That’s what you are. One client wants you to animate and tell fun stories, the other wants you to sit quietly in a corner and keep to yourself, you have to make sure you don’t fall for the temptations of the profession, that you stay in shape and that you have your finances in order. Because earning a lot is one thing, if you don’t handle it well, it can be gone just like that.”

“The shoot with Mario Testino was terrible. I couldn’t loosen up. I was really starstruck.”

“As a seventeen-year-old girl from Almere, I moved to New York, walked the big shows with Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks, and worked with Peter Lindbergh and Mario Testino. The latter saw me at a show and said: “I’m going to shoot the cover of Vogue Paris with you, you have it all.” But during the shoot, I was so, so nervous that I couldn’t loosen up at all. That cover never happened because I was undoubtedly way too tense in the photos. I was really starstruck.”

“It’s great work because you meet so many special people. But I’ve also called my parents crying when I was in Milan sitting in my hotel room with my plate of dirty hotel food on my lap. I had already walked shows every day for four weeks where a day that starts at 7:00 AM and ends at 2:00 AM is very normal. ‘If you don’t feel like it anymore, you can go home tomorrow. You can always work in the supermarket.“ My father really said that. And he meant it.”

Yfke the family person

“My family is my rock. When I’m in the Netherlands, I sleep comfortably at my mother’s place in Almere. On a single bed. Why would I go to a fancy hotel when I can be with her? I also try to get her to come to London as much as possible so she can spend a lot of time with my son. That’s the most important thing.”

Yfke the body

“If I have to choose between an hour of exercising or an hour of cuddling with Jonathan, I naturally choose the latter 99 out of 100 times. And I also eat fattier since I became a mother. I calmly take a few fries that I dip in mayonnaise. But you can also be in shape like that. If you eat something fatty, you feel full much longer than from a carrot. And from intense exercising, you get much hungrier again. I don’t have that anymore now, it’s much more in balance.

In the past, I thought about 200 calories: oh dear, only two hundred and I’m already at my daily limit. I’m not concerned with that at all anymore. I do do exercises for twenty minutes three times a week. I’ve had so many great personal trainers that I cherry-pick from their exercises. But if I feel it’s getting too intense, I stop immediately. Otherwise, you get another hunger attack. If only I had known this before, it would have been much

more enjoyable.”

Yfke the style icon

“When I lived in New York, I dressed more New Yorkish. Jeans, a shirt, and a good bag. That suited me at that moment because I was a lot younger. In London, everyone is more dressed up and that suits me more. I almost never wear jeans anymore. I love being dressed up. A nice leather pant for example with flat, high boots up to my knee and then a nice sweater or jacket on top, that’s me. I really love London anyway, but I can really enjoy that everyone is so well-groomed.”

Yfke about motherhood

“When I wake up, the first thing I think is: in an hour Alexander will open his little eyes and I can cuddle him. Our son goes to bed late, at 10:00 PM, so my boyfriend can also have some quality time with him when he comes home in the evening. As a bonus, we can also sleep longer because he doesn’t wake up until 9:00 AM. I had a planned cesarean section. That is very unusual in the Netherlands, but in London, where I live, it’s very normal. I think many women in the Netherlands have a negative association with it because a cesarean is often used as a last resort. After 28 hours of contractions, if it hasn’t worked out, a cesarean follows anyway. That’s not nice. I loved knowing when our baby would come. My mother could be there, and even my brother was flown in as a surprise. His flight was delayed, so he arrived quite late. I wanted to go to bed, but my boyfriend and my mother kept saying that I really had to stay up a little longer. ’But I have a pretty important day tomorrow, guys,“ I said. Then the doorbell rang, and my brother was at the door. That was such a wonderful moment. After two days, I was already walking through London again. Buying bigger baby clothes because tall mothers have tall babies. I should have known that.”

Yfke about life

“In one year, I gave life and almost lost my own. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but now that you say it… You know what it is? When you have a child and something terrible happens to you (Yfke got hit by a jetski and fell into a coma, MM), you just keep going. And now I suddenly have to cry… Sorry. Apparently, I haven’t processed it all yet. The period after the accident was very tough. I had to rest, and I was really looking forward to being in charge of my own body again after the pregnancy, going out with my friends, moving, going to the park with Alexander. Now I was sitting on the couch for months. I won’t say I was depressed, but it was really tough. Fortunately, my mother often came to London. I also had a lot of support from my boyfriend. Because I made a project out of my recovery, things are going well again now. There are people who suffer from permanent headaches as a result of such an accident, and I don’t have any of that.”

“I won’t say I was depressed, but that time after the accident was really tough.”

“I haven’t become more grateful or anything because of the accident, because I was already that way, every day. I have become more cautious. And more aware. A few days ago, I was in Cape Town where we went to climb Lion’s Head, the mountain next to Table Mountain. People had said it was a very easy hiking trail, but suddenly I found myself hanging on a rope ladder along a rock twenty meters above another rock slab. I just don’t want that anymore. I was so angry actually. I’m a mother, I have a beautiful life, I don’t want to risk that by doing dangerous things. I felt the same way about that jet ski. In my mind, we were just going for a day at the beach, but if I had known that this could happen or that it could be so dangerous, I would have just built a sandcastle.”

Yfke the brand

“I don’t plan anything in my life. Everything I think of never happens, so I’ve decided to see what crosses my path and choose from that. Did you know that I wanted to become a physiotherapist who helped people in their rehabilitation? I used to do gymnastics at a high level and was often massaged by a physiotherapist who did that. I thought that was such a beautiful profession; you help others. Now I find it great that I can contribute to the Red Cross, an organization that suits me. They operate internationally, are free from religion and impartial, and everyone gets help.”

“In the past, you were fashion and then it was over. When I started, that suddenly changed. I walked the Victoria’s Secret show as a young girl with my heroines Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks. I once heard Heidi Klum say “Yfke, Yfke” and was completely surprised. She knows my name! Heidi and Kyra got TV shows, launched a jewelry line, and really built ‘their brand’ so that your career doesn’t stop when you stop modeling. I now have a contract with Fox, work as a model, collaborate with Freek (Koster, founder and owner of Touché Models and Future Faces, MM) on our platform The Model House, am the face of Gassan Diamonds, and ambassador for the Red Cross. And who knows what else will come my way.”