Jaime King Candidly Reflects on Being a Model on Her Own at 13: 'I Was Terrified'

Jaime King is opening up about her experience in the modeling industry as a young teen.

The model-turned-actress, 44, spoke candidly with Alissa Bennett, a director at Gladstone Gallery and former model, for a piece in The Cut published this week. In it, she revealed how scary it was to arrive in New York City as a 13-year-old and what her time in the industry was truly like.

"I was terrified. I was terrified," she told the outlet. "I mean, I was a child. I think I was 13 and a half."

When she originally came to New York, the model's mother accompanied her. But after her mom left, King moved in with an editor of Harper's Bazaar. "After that, I was sort of shuffled between different people's households… wherever my agent told me I should go, that's where I was placed. I was a child, and this may sound harsh but I believe it's true: A child at that age should not be in the fashion industry."

King, who is currently in the midst of a court battle with estranged husband Kyle Newman, also talked about being offered heroin on a photo shoot and other inappropriate moments she faced along the way.

"I was 14 [when given heroin]," she revealed. "But I also remember being naked as a 14-year-old, 15-year-old, 16-year-old, even at 13 years old, dude, it's — I remember being naked in a bathtub for Italian Vogue when I was not even 14 years old. I remember being given champagne, and I never knew what to do with that. How could any child know what it is to do with that? You're just trying to get through it, and there's this pervasive terror that if you don't participate, you'll be sent home."

The Hart of Dixie alum also touched on the period of time that she was inadvertently the face of "heroin chic" while dating Davide Sorrenti, who passed away at age 21.

"The cruelest thing was having Bill Clinton, the president of the f---ing United States of America, talk about you and the love of your life and describing us as "heroin chic" while displaying our images and distorting them," she recalled.

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King continued: "Like the picture Davide took of me in front of the Kurt Cobain poster. People made it seem like we were glamorizing death, but we weren't; it was our way of saying something about the kids who were dying too young. And then, of course, as dumb politicians do, especially ones that sexually abuse women like President Clinton — and you can put that in there — he tried to moralize things. So he called us heroin chic as though we were glamorizing something."

King ended up leaving the modeling industry at age 18, to the complete shock of those around her.

"I'll never forget the reaction, like, 'What are you doing? You're just going to stop?! You're barely 18, you're at the height of your career. Why would you walk away from earning as much as you do in a day?' But it wasn't about the money and fame for me," she stated.

When asked by Bennett if she now feels free, her answer was simple.

"No, I don't feel free," King said.

She added: "I feel … freer. Sometimes, I can feel it. It's like a light shining under a door, and to me, that's an accomplishment. It's an accomplishment."