Ex-bikini model Brooklyn Decker says designer gowns are getting her down

Now that she's stopped modelling, former Sports Illustrated swimsuit star Brooklyn Decker is posing for the cameras more than ever: There she is with the paparazzi in Australia, on the red carpet in London and on the cover of this month's Women's Health and the June issue of Redbook.

When she hung up her bikini after appearing in Sports Illustrated four years in a row, the 25-year-old decided her new job would be working as an actress.

She has starring roles in two movies, What to Expect When You're Expecting and Battleship, and she has spent the last three months promoting them. (She won last year's Teen Choice Award for female breakout star after her big-screen debut in Just Go With It.)

Decker began modelling when she was 16, when she was cast in an ad for prom dresses in North Carolina. Modelling was meant to pay for college, she says, but it didn't turn out that way. Sometimes she thinks about what could have been, but adds: Who would say "no" to top magazines and photographers, and a chance to see almost every corner of the world?

Missed going to college

"The problem is I really missed going to college. I missed not having that education and that experience," she says. "The only thing I could study when travelling so much is acting because I could actually take it with me. ... Acting was the one thing I could commit to studying abroad. I started reading a lot of plays, a lot of Tennessee Williams initially."

At one point, she flirted with going back to her childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian. Maybe some day she'll have a "mini farm", she says.

The whirlwind global press tours have been "amazing" and will surely help her budding film career, but she's eager to get back to Austin, Texas, where Decker and professional tennis star Andy Roddick were married in 2009 and still have a home.

She's not quite complaining, but Decker says all the high heels, designer gowns and especially the fussing with her hair and make-up for the press tour are getting to her. "I want to wake up, throw on workout pants and a T-shirt, and I'd like to go on a big hike."

Excerpts from the interview:

Will you sneak into a theatre and watch your new movies with an audience?

I have a really difficult time watching myself on film. I literally cower in my seat and cover my face. There's zero evidence that I was a model in my house, no pictures of me anywhere.

Would you be willing to take on a role with an unrecognisable or unattractive look, one that required you to, say, chop your hair or colour it?

I think that's the fun of being an actor. If an actress is concerned about how she's looking all the time, I feel like you can't really focus on becoming a character so I would welcome a physical change.

Are you more comfortable in a bikini or a ballgown?

It's not that I'm comfortable in a swimsuit, and this is going to sound weird, but when you have a gown, there's much more to be concerned about. Where is this crease falling? Are you making a weird shape with the dress? Are you doing the designer justice? With a bathing suit, it's more about you and the mood you convey. So, I feel like a bathing suit is a little bit easier to wear, not more comfortable but easier.

You're a big sports fan and a good athlete, what's your game?

I have zero hand-eye coordination — zero — so I've never been good at softball, basketball, golf, things like that, but I'm really strong and I have really good endurance so I can go forever — I'm a tough girl. Growing up, I played soccer, which is a lot of endurance, and I ran track and field. Hurdles were probably my best events.