Kate Upton has been quiet on the gossip front, mostly because she’s incredibly busy with work and her new boyfriend (Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers). A cute new photoshoot has surfaced from when Kate was 15 years old. You should go look at it because it really shows off her star factor. Kate is 21 now, and her career has exploded. She still pops out for the occasional interview. She also co-hosted Live with Kelly and Michael on Friday. You can see a video of her appearance here. Some outlets are asking if Kate looks pregnant or not. I vote “not.”

Kate has a new interview with Details where she talks about several topics. She covers the lingering question of whether she’d pose for Playboy. Kate has done (link NSFW) body paint for SI: Swim. We all know what her breasts and booty look like because SI shoots leave little to the imagination. Kate has yet to fully disrobe, and she tells Details that the internet prevents her from doing so. She thinks nude shots should be “art” instead of pr0n.

Kate does step into slightly shady territory by discussing her “realistic” body. Uh-oh. This is slightly off-topic, but have you seen the new controversial Gap campaign? Some people wonder whether the internet has “skinny shamed” the model. The topic dovetails with Kate’s assertion that most shoots contain “too skinny” models who are retouched. Kate says most models really aren’t that skinny — they’re just airbrushed that way. Here we go:

Why she sells magazines: “I am the target audience. I’m 21 and I love fashion and I feel like a normal girl — at least to a certain extent. I think that people can relate to me. Most of the time the model is retouched and too skinny and other women get depressed by it. But really, that model who is being retouched and is too skinny is depressed as well. Because she doesn’t look like that photo either! It’s not realistic for that model or that woman reading the magazine to think she should look like that. I love my body and I feel very confident with where I am and who I am as a person.”

Did she always accept her body? “No, at first it was terrible! But then I got inspired by other women being inspired by me. Seeing that other women went through that as well made me stronger. I wanted to inspire them by going through it and making it out the other end. Everybody goes through hard times, regardless whether they didn’t get the job that they wanted or if they are being criticized for their body, so I think they can relate to that and people are rooting for me. Me being criticized is more on a global level, but it still hurts just as much for any girl if she’s at school being criticized or at work being criticized.”

She has to turn down high fashion offers: “Well, you’d be surprised how many offers I actually do get in fashion campaigns, but I unfortunately have to say no because my career is moving at such a rapid pace. I want to hit all the top things. I want Italian Vogue with Steven Meisel, but I can’t do all of the other things because I also want to shoot a movie. You think you can do it all. I’m traveling everywhere and I’m trying to do everything and I can’t.”

Why she hasn’t posed nude yet like Kate and Naomi: “For me those photos are art. Your body is art, your body is beautiful, and to be photographed in that way is amazing and it’s received in a very positive way. But with social media and the Internet and not so great blogs and the attention like that, I don’t think that my pictures would be received in the way that I’d want them to be received. That’s why I’ve stayed away from them. I really appreciate those photos and I think those women are beautiful, but I think social media and the Internet has prevented me from putting myself out there like that.”

Being a “bombshell” at 21: “It’s where I’ve started and it’s what I’ve accomplished, so I’m happy about it. But the more my career grows, I think that people will see that I have a lot more to offer and a lot more to give, but I want to do it right and that’s why it’s taking me time. I’m patient about it. Now it’s out of my hands — it has kind of been rolling on its own — but at the beginning I was micromanaging every little step.”

[From Details – The Talks]

I don’t think Kate was “skinny shaming” in her discussion of weight. She could have phrased things better because some people will feel differently. She’s saying that there’s pressure on every model to look perfect, and airbrushing hurts everyone’s feelings. Especially models.

Kate is wise to not disrobe in the internet age. Any nude shoot she does would be sliced and diced on the “dude” blogs, and no one would consider it “art” at all. Scarlett Johansson said something similar about her Under the Skin role: “You assume it’s going to be a screenshot for someone.” Yep.

Here are some photos of Kate attending a Tigers vs. Yankees game last week. She was there to support Justin Verlander.

Photos courtesy of WENN