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Kate Upton should have been on top of the world after gracing the cover of her first Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition in 2012, but instead the opposite was true.

"After my first Sports Illustrated cover, I felt terrible about myself for a solid month," said the supermodel in the September issue of Elle magazine. "Every single guy I met was either married or about to be married, and I felt like I was their bachelor present or something … I'm not a toy, I'm a human. I'm not here to be used. I am a grown woman, and you need to figure your s*** out."

Upton added that she still gets treated like a "dumb blonde" in certain professional settings, which sometimes works to her advantage. "People deal with models like they are children," she remarked. "They think they can pull one over on you. It's actually funny. I'm always like, 'I'm about to pull something on you, and you're so focused on thinking I'm dumb you're not even going to know.'"

The supermodel then revealed where she's tattooed, explaining that she got a tiny cross inked on the inside of her finger. "I was at a photo shoot and I was wearing a cross necklace that my mom bought me, and somebody made a joke like, 'Why are you wearing a cross? Like you would be religious.' And then they took it away," she recalled. "The whole thing made me realize that I do want [a cross] with me, at all times."

Pick up the September issue of Elle for the rest of Upton's interview.