Kate Upton has taken the modelling world by storm with her stunning good lucks and impossibly large curves. Though she has now grown into her fame and has became accustomed the attention she constantly receives, it hasn't always been that way for Upton.

The 21-year-old supermodel opened up recently to talk about her experience bursting into the public eye with her appearance on the cover of the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. For Upton, it was far from a ceremonious moment in her career.

"After my first Sports Illustrated cover, I felt terrible about myself for a solid month," Upton tells Elle in its September issue. "Every single guy I met was either married or about to be married, and I felt like I was their bachelor present or something. I'm not a toy, I'm a human. I'm not here to be used. I am a grown woman, and you need to figure your s**t out."

Upton also went on to discuss some of the problems she encountered on set. She noted one time wherein she was wearing a cross during a shoot, and someone wondered out loud why she would even be wearing it, as if she could not possibly be religious due to her job. Just because others may be selling Upton short doesn't mean that she's going down without a fight, however.

"People deal with models like they are children. They think they can pull one over on you. It's actually funny," says Upton. "I'm always like, 'I'm about to pull something on you, and you're so focused on thinking I'm dumb you're not even going to know.'"

Expectations and gossip are certainly nothing new to Upton. Her love life has been the subject of much debate and speculation, most recently for her supposed connection with "Dancing with the Stars" premier dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy. So far, however, she has been fairly aloof in terms of her romantic life.

"I really have never had a serious relationship in the industry," recalls the model. "I'm just having fun. Obviously I have a very busy schedule at this time in my life, and I don't put relationships as a priority."