AceShowbiz -

After she made it to the cover of Sports Illustrated for the first time back in the February 2012 issue, people would expect Kate Upton to be on cloud nine. It turns out, as the 21-year-old swimsuit model revealed in the September 2013 issue of Elle magazine, it was quite a low point in her life.

"After my first Sports Illustrated cover, I felt terrible about myself for a solid month. Every single guy I met was either married or about to be married, and I felt like I was their bachelor present or something," Upton said. She then went on to open up about feeling objectified after that first cover, of being treated like a "toy" and a stereotypical "dumb blonde" even at work that people would deal with her as if she were a child that they could easily "pull one over on" her.

It got so bad one time that as she recalled, even a cross necklace bought for her by her mom that she wore to a photo shoot was taken away by someone on the set, adding insult to injury by saying, "Why are you wearing a cross? Like you would be religious." But through those moments, she managed to look out for herself against these types of people.

Despite men objectifying her endlessly, Upton is open to having a loving relationship with a guy, which could be this rumored romance with "Dancing with the Stars" pro dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Even so, she would be the first to admit that she's "just having fun" and has "never had a serious relationship in the industry," with her busy schedule and romance not being in her priority list.