Kate Upton appears in a swimsuit feature in the April issue of Vogue UK. She was photographed by Mario Testino in a shoot called “Venus Rising,” which is meant to evoke Botticelli’s famous painting with a modern edge. Maybe. Kate looks hot, but the name of the shoot is unoriginal. Vogue should have let her beachy hair and amazing curves stand on their own without a mythological analogy.

This interview was conducted by Alexa Chung, who adopts a Blake Lively-esque manner of describing Kate’s beach bunny assets as they chat over Skype. This isn’t typical Vogue material, but the interview does depart from Kate’s recent routine of complaining about her fame. Instead, she complains about the revolting Terry Richardson, which is a worthy cause. Kate discusses her infamous “Cat Daddy” dance and how she was angry when Terry published the video without her permission:

Alexa Chung on Kate: “Upton is warm, relaxed and beautifully backlit. With her golden locks bundled into a loose ponytail, everything about Miss Upton is full and perky — including her beguiling personality.”

Kate on keeping her cool: “A lot of times I’d be on the phone with my mum as I was walking into a meeting and then calling her right after. She helped me word things and express myself so I knew what I was saying. I knew I was frustrated but I was 15 so I didn’t know exactly how to put things. My mum told me when I was younger that I could never raise my voice but I could always match a tone. I’ve kept that with me because, in fashion, there can be some heated moments. I’m never the one raising my tone, but I will match one.”

Did Kate stand up to Uncle Terry? “Yes, I did. I was like, ‘That was disrespectful, you could have told me! Now, obviously, it’s fine.”

Terry on whether he takes credit for Kate: “No. Kate was born a star.”

Kate the Marilyn Monroe comparisons: “I always thought Marilyn was so beautiful and iconic, it was amazing to even be mentioned in the same sentence as her. But I feel like nowadays it’s easy to be genuine and show your personality, whereas I don’t think Marilyn had that opportunity. And clearly she had a dark side, and I don’t have that.”

[From Vogue UK]

I can’t even muster up a wry comment about how Alexa Chung described Kate’s personality girls. Let’s talk about Uncle Terry instead and how Kate reveals that he didn’t have permission to release her “Cat Daddy” dance. We’ve heard many stories from other models who felt used and abused by Terry. Kate doesn’t tell that kind of story because she was already a big name before Terry met her. Of course he didn’t do what he did to unknown models when he encountered Kate. But he still overstepped his boundaries, and Kate called him out. Then she talked about it to Vogue UK. Baby steps.

Photos courtesy of Mario Testino/Vogue & WENN