Meet the very talented Phoebe Ghorayeb, a powerhouse model, mother of two, foodie, blogger, presenter, writer… ok, we’ll stop now. Phoebe is the force behind Model Appetite, a blog working to dispel the widely held belief that ‘models don’t eat.’ We sat down with Phoebe to discuss all things modelling, motherhood, health, and Auguste of course. Married to photographer Georges Antoni, Phoebe has two beautiful daughters Valentina and Siddy. We were lucky enough to work with this dream duo of beautiful, strong females in our latest mini & me looks.
Tell us a bit about your journey from model to mother?
Well in short I suppose I owe it to my career as a model for actually becoming a mother in the first place. It was through modelling that I met my husband who is also the father of my children, so without it I would never have met the love of my life and therefore given birth to the other two loves of my life. I absolutely love my job as a model and other than getting paid to do it, I used to love it mainly because it was fun, a great way to socialise, travel and I got to help create amazing pictures. It is still of course all of the above but now the financial gains are much more prevalent and I am proud to be able to help support my family in this way.
You are a well-known advocate for healthy eating and well eating as a model, dispelling that stereotype I am sure many are familiar with. Has that changed since becoming a mother?
Definitely not. In fact it’s more important now because I have two young girls, who will in time, be very much pressured, swayed and influenced by advertising and social media to look, eat and present themselves in a certain way. If Georges and I are able to instil healthy, well rounded habits into them now then I’m hoping the pressures of the world won’t have as much negative impact on them. Building strong foundations and beliefs in them with regards to food, health and balance will stand them in good stead to be able to make positive choices about their own bodies. Having suffered from eating disorders myself, I am even more aware of how easily people can fall into those traps. I want our girls to not only eat food as a way of fuelling their bodies but also as a way to enjoy life, create memories and experience different cultures and whether that comes from eating chocolate and ice cream or fruit and salad, as long as the decision has come from a positive place and not brought about by guilt or denial then they will always have a healthy relationship with not only food but with themselves also.
What has been the most surprising thing about motherhood?
How hard the hard days are. I was very positive and excited going into motherhood but with a lack of communication and openness about how tough motherhood can be sometimes it was quite eye opening to witness first hand how difficult is can be behind closed doors. No one really spoke about the hard bits and there wasn’t much awareness around PND. Social media has given parents the platform and voice to speak honestly about the tough times and more importantly help to build a community for those suffering in the same boat. It's very easy to showcase and flaunt the good parts about parenthood, heck I do it too! But on the days it’s not all sunshine and roses it can be a real wake up call and requires a lot of inner strength, luckily I have a very supportive network within my husband, family and friends.
How has your second pregnancy differed from your first?
To be honest they were both very similar. The only major differences were my cravings. With Valentina all I wanted to eat were pastries and cereal and with Siddy I couldn’t get enough of orange juice and hydralyte.
What attracted you to Auguste?
I love how easy and wearable the pieces are and the attention to detail is beautiful. I also love the more muted colour palette so you still get the femininity with the frills, ruching and prints but the colour tones give it a cooler, slightly edgier vibe.
What is your favourite piece from the new Peninsula collection?
The Devon maxi dress. I adore the bold prints and the beautiful sunshine yellow and earthy rust colours just shout summer, happy, playful and joy!
