Irina Shayk certainly looks like she leads a life of perfection: She’s one of the world’s biggest supermodels and is dating one of the world’s biggest stars, Bradley Cooper, with whom she shares 19-month-old daughter Lea De Seine.
But the Russian model, 32, is not afraid to be open about the fact that her life isn’t always as perfect as it looks.
“When I’m not on set, I want to be a regular person because I am a regular person,” Shayk told PEOPLE at Ellen Tracy’s brand showroom in New York City last week to discuss her new collaboration with the fashion brand.
As the face of Ellen Tracy, Shayk expanded her partnership to design a capsule collection for busy working women — like her! — that focuses on taking the stress out of getting dressed every morning. The idea is that these women have enough pressures to deal with, and looking perfect shouldn’t be one of them. Therefore, each piece she created is designed to make women feel both put together and comfortable.
“I want to be myself. I don’t want to be judged about not looking together,” she said. “I wear comfortable shoes. I wear sweatpants. I’m also a human being who wakes up and has a thousand things to do.” (Read more about the collaboration, available at lordandtaylor.com, here.)
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And when it comes to busting expectations of perfection, the same goes for being a mom.
So far, she’s made it look easy: Shayk and boyfriend Cooper welcomed daughter Lea in March 2017. Just nine weeks after giving birth, the model attended the Cannes Film Festival.
Most recently, she and the A Star Is Born actor and director, 43, walked their first Met Gala red carpet together in May, where she wore a gold high-slit ruffle-embellished gown by Versace.
RELATED VIDEO: Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk Welcome Their First Child
But sometimes she suffers from mom guilt, just like everybody else, “every day.”
“I’m the mom who’s always checking in,” the supermodel tells PEOPLE exclusively, adding of having mom guilt, “I’m really hard on myself.”
Her way of dealing? Recognizing she’s not alone. “Everyone has it,” Shayk points out. “Time passes so fast. You just have to try to live in the moment.”
“I’m not good, but I’m working on it,” she adds. “You just have to let it go and not be hard on yourself.”
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At the same time, Shayk wants women to realize what you see online is not always what you get.
“I feel like with Instagram and stuff, you always feel like you see a perfect picture,” she says. “For me, I almost always post a picture of my work. It looks perfect. You never see a picture from paparazzi walking out, and I’m never posting my personal life or something like that on Instagram.”
“So I feel like with the social media stuff you feel pressure, too. Sometimes people are like, ‘Oh, you look different.’ I look different because I’m not with the perfect light, the perfect makeup. I’m just walking around being me.”
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Being comfortable with who she is has helped Shayk deal with her life in the spotlight, especially the scrutiny she faces as being one half of a very famous couple.
“It’s so funny because I barely read things about myself, and sometimes when I do, it makes me laugh,” she says. “Sometimes I find it really funny. I’m not this kind of person who [thinks], ‘Oh my God, they say this.’ I really don’t. I have family and friends who I love and I care about and who really know who I am, but I’m not this kind of girl who’d read something on social media and be like ‘Oh my God.’ “
“I’m just living my life,” adds Shayk. “I don’t wanna be anyone else but who I am.”
For more of this exclusive interview with Irina Shayk, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now.
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