Kate Upton is happy to be perceived as a role model.

The 20-year-old beauty is glad young girls look up to her thanks to her fuller-figured body and wants to inspire them to feel more self-confident.

She explained: ''I never imagined that I would be in a position to be a role model. I just focused on being healthy and being the best that I could be. I'm happy to be seen as a good example. If I can help and influence girls who are going through body-image issues than I think that's amazing.''

''I'm sure every designer has a certain person in mind who they would ideally like to wear their clothes, but the problem is that a lot of the time that person doesn't actually exist, unless she is a 15-year-old model.''

The blonde model-and-actress agrees that the fashion industry should rethink their ad campaigns and unhealthy promotion of waif-thin models because the general public feels too intimidated to buy most high-end clothes.

She told Vogue magazine: ''I don't really have a personal opinion on whether they should change the sizes of samples or not, but I do think it's a topic that should be looked at, and I do think there won't be many women buying those clothes, if, size-wise, they don't seem realistic.''