Model Sara Stockbridge Regrets Turning Down Italian Vogue Shoot To Be With Her Son, As Would I

Many mothers have regrets here and there regarding decisions they’ve made for their kids or perhaps conferences calls they didn’t take. But consider the massive regret 1980s it girl Sara Stockbridge must feel at turning down a 20 page shoot with Italian Vogue to meet her boyfriend and infant son in the countryside.

Stockbridge writes that she walked the runways with Noami Campbell and was a favorite to Vivienne Westwood. She observes that she was on the cusp of being a truly big supermodel when a decision to be with her family ultimately cost her an opportunity to breakout:

At Vivienne’s first show in Paris in 1991, I was waiting in line with Naomi Campbell to go on the catwalk, when legendary fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth bounced up to me. ”˜Sara!’ she said, ”˜we’re shooting 20 pages for Italian Vogue tomorrow!’ I looked at her aghast. ”˜I can’t,’ I said. ”˜I’m supposed to meet my boyfriend and my baby son in this little village out in the countryside. If I don’t show up they’ll wonder what’s happened to me.’ ”˜Can’t you phone them?’ she asked. ”˜No,’ I said. ”˜They’re in an old farmhouse! There’s no telephone!’…

I should have just left boyfriend and baby (Max, now 21) to manage without me for a day or two. Stupid, stupid, stupid! My new Paris agency sacked me on the spot and Ellen, though she said she understood, never worked with me again. In low moments since then, when things weren’t going so well for me ”” when money was tight, or I looked in the mirror and felt old…

While Sara doesn’t divulge any details regarding what she and her boyfriend agreed on regarding work scheduling, I’m guessing there was no flexibility when it came to “on the fly” job offers.  Still, I would probably kick myself for not taking such a massive career opportunity regardless of what I had worked out with my partner. Her comment that her boyfriend could have “manage[d] without me for a day or two” implies that there were no big parenting emergencies, no crises, no scenariso that demanded her presence as a mother for those couple of days.

If Mr. Sara had his own piece about what he turned down in lieu of parenthood, I’m sure he would have his own list of regrets. But I doubt among them would be an opportunity to appear in a 20 page spread for Italian Vogue.

(photo: dailymail.co.uk)