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Jesinta Franklin made a name for herself when she won Miss Universe Australia in 2010 at just 18 years old.
From there, her career skyrocketed, and she has worked with a slew of big-name brands like Olay, David Jones, and Tiffany & Co.
Now over ten years later, she is 30 and shares two gorgeous children, Tullulah, two, and Rocky, one, with her AFL legend husband Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin.
Jes cradling her son Rocky when he was a newborn.
(Image: Instagram)Modelling is a tough gig, and the industry is largely unregulated, so when Now To Love asked Jes how she feels about her daughter following in her footsteps, she had already given it some thought.
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“It’s something I think about a lot, and I’ll probably regret saying this, but deep down, I hope that she doesn’t want to model,” she admits.
Even though her career has afforded the Swisse ambassador a privileged life, the dark side of being a model greatly impacted her wellbeing.
“I’ve had some really tough experiences in the past, and I know it still affects me to this day, especially with body image,” she shares.
Jes recalls getting measured and weighed every morning when she was modelling in China and the fear of losing her contract or income to the clause in the agency’s contract that stipulates if the model’s weight went up or down, they could retract it.
But even in Australia, there was pressure, and it was known that the “thinner you were, the more you worked.”
“I was very unhealthy at that stage. I didn’t weigh enough, and I was overexercising and undereating. I think if you speak to most people who worked in the modelling industry, the stories are probably really similar.
“I hope that she doesn’t want to model.”
(Image: Instagram)“That was probably the biggest challenge for me that had long-lasting effects on my health and the way that I looked at my body. I’d like to think that I’m on the other side of that now,” Jes tells Now To Love.
However, if Tullulah wants to pursue modelling, Jes has hopes that at the rate the industry is evolving, she won’t face the same crippling challenges.
“We’re seeing this shift this change. So, I do hope that if by the time she wants to do that and get into it, she would hopefully be a late teen or young woman by that stage, that there has been a huge shift in those challenges that existed for me as a model that wouldn’t exist for her,” she says.
The trauma of modelling in the 2010s and being famous has likely informed her biggest goal as a mother: to raise her children so they “feel very secure in who they are as people.
Buddy and Jes are hoping they can more quality time together in the near future.
(Image: Getty)“So that when they do face challenges, they’ve got a really strong compass, and if they do fall off their little track, they can get back on it.”
Welcoming two children in two years is no easy feat, and it’s understandably hard for Jes and Buddy to carve out some one-on-one time.
But for the time being, the busy mum is choosing not to worry that they “very rarely” find time for each other.
“It’s very few and far between. I know it’s just a phase, you know, the kids are still so little, and all of our spare time that we have when we’re not working is fully dedicated to the kids.
“We know it’s not going to be like this forever. They’re going to be off to school or daycare, and we’re not going to have them around as much. I think we just focus on the bigger picture,” she explains.
“We know it’s not going to be like this forever.”
(Image: Swisse)Even though they’re too busy with their careers and babies go to Sushi Train and catch a movie together once a month like they used to, Jes reveals they’re hoping in the near future they can spend more “quality time together as a family.”
“Right now, it feels like a grind with work, and Buddy is still playing football. We feel like ships in the night sometimes. There is just a lot on, so I think definitely for us being able to pair back on work a little bit and just spend more time,” she tells Now To Love.
But until then, Jes will be taking care of herself and her family by cooking healthy meals, “taking daily supplements” for her overall health, and leaning on her support network to ensure she is “mentally and emotionally healthy.”
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