Lori Harvey rightfully walks to the beat of her own drum, mainly taking a subtle approach to her rising fame.
When candidness is at an all-time high, Harvey remains mystique, even when it involves her boyfriend, who happens to be PEOPLE’s reigning “Sexiest Man Alive,” or critics who give her a hard time.
Many of us never heard the 24-year-old model’s voice until she made the ‘90s -inspired makeup tutorial for Vogue. We usually see her cascading her glamorous pictures on her Instagram page—which has 3.7 million followers. When she does posts stories, it’s usually to promote one of her latest projects.
According to Bustle’s recent Zoom interview with Harvey, Harvey considers herself quiet, not shy, but quiet. “I’m the type of person where I have to kind of feel you out and get to know you, and then I get comfortable and then my crazy kind of shows,” she says. “But if it’s an environment I’m not familiar with; if it’s too many people, then I’m more quiet, reserved, to myself, and very observant.”
Apparently, she was nervous about interviewing because it’s something she rarely does. “It’s new. It’s definitely something I’m growing into because I’m very private. So just figuring out that sweet spot of giving enough, but still keeping a majority of [me] for me.”
But now that she’s public with her boyfriend Michael B. Jordan and promoting a new skincare line (coming soon), it’s somewhat inevitable that she comes out of her shell.
“I definitely want to have my hand in everything at some point,” she tells me. “I think Rihanna has done an amazing job and laid some really great groundwork. I love how she’s kind of done everything and done it so, so well. I think I’ll definitely dabble in different parts of the beauty industry and fashion industry.”
The ingredient-driven skincare line is based on her own discoveries about her own sensitive skin. “I definitely am a perfectionist, and if something is not exactly how I envision it in my head, then I have to make changes, make changes, make changes, make changes,” she says. “I think my team is very stressed out, and they’re like, ‘Lori, you said you wanted it like this.’ I’m like, ‘I know, but now I want it like this.’ Until I feel like it’s right, it’s this internal feeling that I get. You know when something’s right. So I’m like until I get that, I keep changing and striving for what my idea of perfection is.”
She also opened up about being a part of a blended family. Her mother, Marjorie, married Steve Harvey in 2007. Lori was ten at the time and became one of seven kids. “Blending our families together was an experience because we’re all very big personalities or all very opinionated. So it was interesting, but it was good. It was fun. And now we’re all super tight; we’re super close,” Lori says. Her sisters are all so much older than Lori, who was the only girl growing up in a house with three boys. “They treated me like I was one of their brothers,” she recalls.
“It was wrestling, skateboarding, basketball, all of that. I think I still kind of have a little bit of that in me, at least just in how I dress: Most of the time, I’m in a sweatsuit or just really chill casual. I want to be comfy.”
She’s enjoying being the fun auntie now, seeing that a big family lessens the demands for her to have her own kids. “I get my dose,” she says. “I’m like, ‘OK, this is great birth control for me. Awesome. Love this.’ I can play with them, love on them, give them back.”
When Harvey was 18, she found herself at a crossroad, having to lay down her equestrian dreams because of a back injury; she decided to pick modeling back up, something she once did as a child.
“I already was really, really into fashion, I was already really, really into the beauty space. My mom was taking me to fashion shows with her when I was younger, so I’ve always been in that world.”
She was given the opportunity to walk in Dolce and Gabbana’s millennial fashion show, and from there, she built her runway and print credits. She’s moved on to more modeling, skincare brands, and her own line with Naked Wardrobe.
“I think with anything that I want to do; I want to make sure that I’m very knowledgeable about every aspect that goes into it,” she says. “I never really wanted to just be the face of something and put my name on something that I don’t really know the behind the scenes of what it is or what the material is or what the ingredients are, where it’s manufactured.”
Harvey was once engaged to Memphis Depay, a soccer player with Manchester United, but the two called it quits. During the interview, she reflected on their relationship, saying, “I grew up a lot, and I learned a lot from that relationship. And so, I think just as I’ve gotten older and developed as a woman, I’ve taken that knowledge with me: learning what I like, what I don’t like, and just applying that to where I’m at now.”
Following that relationship, she was linked to a few other men but never felt the need to hide or address those details of her life, even with people shunning her actions.
But then along came Michael B. Jordan, who speaks more of their relationship than her. Harvey says, “We met actually a few years ago,” Harvey says. “We had some mutual friends. I think we met out, just in passing.”
When asked how she felt when they first met and if there was a connection? She said, “I was like, ‘He’s cute!’”
As for being together and being famous, Harvey says, “I think we’re both very private people naturally. So we just decide, if we take a picture or whatever it is, do you want to post this? Do we not? We have a conversation about it, like, ‘You want to post this or we keep this to ourselves?’” Fans — both hers and his — ride for their romance. “We know there are people that love and support us and want to see us,” she says. “So [we want to] give just enough, but keep the majority of it just for us. We’re trying to find a balance.”
“I think just as I’ve gotten older and interests change, I think this was something that I just decided to be a little bit more public with because it’s a more serious relationship,” she says. “So I’m just handling it differently.”
One top priority is that her man is cool with her family, “I look for someone who is trustworthy and reliable, somebody that could be a good foundation and just stability for me. Somebody that has to be able to get along with my family. I’m so close to my family, so my family is the deciding factor in if you’re going to stick around or not. If they don’t love you, our time together will probably be short.” The rest of the Harveys took to Jordan immediately: “I knew they were going to love him, which they did. [The introduction] was good. It was easy.”
Everyone is probably wondering if she has any response to Future’s recent rap lyrics proclaiming he doesn’t want her. But of course, per usual, she doesn’t even bat an eye.
“I think they get from me that I try to just not let any type of negativity or rumors or anything like that make me stoop down to that level and go back and forth with it or whatever. Just maintain my position of I know who I am, I know what’s going on,” she said. “I just try to stay up here and take the high road in every situation. So I think that would probably be what they get from me because I am private, so I like to just give enough.”
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