Not Your Average Male Model: Shaun Ross Talks Beyoncé and Bullying

BY DAN HYMAN ELLE Mag

Shaun Ross is not lacking in the self-confidence department. "I always knew that I was going to be something great." the model/actor told ELLE.com on a recent afternoon. And why wouldn't he be? Ross has walked the runway for Givenchy and Alexander McQueen; he considers Beyoncé "something like family"; and he's starred in highly artistic music videos opposite bigwig pop stars including Katy Perry ("E.T.") and Lana Del Rey (the recently released short film, "Tropico"). Added Ross, "I'm thankful but I'm not surprised."
Fair enough. Still, the 22-year-old is the first to cop to the fact that this exact form of success—namely a meteoric ascension in the notoriously fickle high-fashion universe—is nothing short of miraculous. Not to mention unprecedented: Ross has albinism, a congenital disorder that results in the production of little to no pigment in the skin, hair, and eyes. He's also African American. To say his look is unique among male models would be an understatement.

"When I tell you that modeling was not a thought to my head, it was not a thought in my head," he recalled of his youth with a laugh. Ross excelled in dance, eventually spending five years with the acclaimed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater company, thinking it would become his profession. But modeling? The idea was utterly laughable. At the time, Ross' perception of a model— a sought-after, flawless specimen of physical perfection — was more or less the status quo. That wasn't him. "Models look good, models look perfect," he remembered thinking. "Allegedly to society and to the public, [I looked] the opposite of that."
He was constantly told as much. As a child growing up in the Bronx, the only "light-skinned" student in his high school class of over 500, Ross was a self-admitted outcast. Despite being verbally abused and even physically assaulted in the seventh grade, he's not one to dwell on being bullied. In fact, he sees it as something of a convenient, PR-friendly cop-out. "I feel like a lot of celebrities do anti-bullying campaigns just to fit in," he said. "Yes, I was bullied. But it made me who I am. So therefore, thank you." (Though it should be noted, Ross has started a similarly minded Instagram campaign of his own — #inmyownskiniwin — which promotes self-acceptance).
Ross' self-perception quickly changed. At 16, he was discovered on YouTube by a photographer who convinced him to meet with Djamee Raphael, a French agent and owner of Djamee Models. Ross and his mom drove from their home in the Bronx to Manhattan to meet with Djamee; Ross was signed an hour later. He met with his first client, P. Diddy, that Friday. "That's when I knew, 'Wake up. This is something crazy about to happen.'" [ Read More]

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