There is so much more to Olivia Culpo than her beauty queen history.
The model, actress, reality TV star, style icon, and Instagram influencer also knows
her way around the kitchen, owns a stake in the family business, and plays an instrument
like a boss.
Here's more of the untold truth of Olivia Culpo.
Her musical side
One of Culpo's hidden talents is that she can really play the cello.
"My mother's a professional musician, and so growing up with my brothers and sisters,
we all played instruments"
She's performed in her pageants, and still plays for her Instagram fans.
Culpo says she used to feel like the talent made her different from other kids, in a bad
way, but, she came to appreciate the distinction, telling Ocean Drive magazine,
"It is such a unique talent to have, and I do respect my parents for pushing it on me.
[Though] at the time, I thought it made me the biggest loser on the planet."
Today, Culpo attributes her good posture to her cello practice, and joked with ELLE, saying,
"Wheeling that thing around was great for muscle tone!"
The pageant fast-track
"I always hum and I'm always singing, in the car, even when there's no music, I like to
dance too sometimes when there's no music"
Culpo's time in the spotlight began when she won Miss Rhode Island, the first pageant she
had ever entered, and her career took off when she won Miss Universe.
"I really wanna scream at the top of my lungs"
But Culpo wasn't a typical pageant kid who had worked for years to win the title.
She told The Coveteur that she started competing because she wanted to be an actress.
"If there's not a path, then create one."
She said,
"I was at college […] and I just wanted to work on my stage presence.
I looked at other people who were serious actors, and many of them had actually started
in pageants.
[…] I entered my first pageant when I was 18 years old; it was Miss Rhode Island."
The family biz
"That's the problem with taking food photos for Instagram.
I just always eat it."
"Do I have ice cream on my face?"
"Nope.
You look f—-ing perfect."
In 2016, Culpo revealed to Taylor Magazine that she has wanted to open her own restaurant
since she was a little girl, explaining that her parents both own restaurants in New England.
She went on to make her dream come true, with The Boston Globe reporting in 2017 that Culpo
and her family had opened a restaurant in Rhode Island called Back 40.
And you might just catch her in the kitchen there!
The star told Arcadia online,
"I absolutely love cooking and I’m always working on great new recipes.
Whether it’s just cooking for myself or for family and friends, I am always trying
to make household favorites healthier."
Blowing off some steam
Between modeling, acting, traveling, and helping to run a restaurant, Culpo's schedule is packed.
"I really think that hard work pays off"
But she says one of her favorite methods of self-care is meditation, telling the Cut,
"It's really hard to do it every single day like you're supposed to, but I find that when
I do take 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes before bed, it makes a huge difference
in my day-to-day life."
Culpo is also a big fan of exercise, telling the mag that she likes to switch up her workouts
with Soul Cycle, Pilates, yoga, running, and barre class.
Those brows tho
"If I could be really great at one thing, it would be something involving science"
Culpo is known for her gorgeous eyebrows.
But while she seems to embrace them now, they weren't something she always loved.
As a kid, she would beg her mom to let her get her brows done, telling Byrdie,
"Actually, in grade school, I remember the boys laughing and telling me I had a unibrow."
The stunner told Haute Living, she was glad full eyebrows eventually became a trend.
The Pomodoro method
"I have to get better at planning, that's exactly what you keep telling me.
I need to get better at planning like an adult."
"For sure."
Culpo's schedule seems so jam-packed, it's hard to imagine how she does it all.
But it turns out, there's a method to the madness.
The model takes breaks throughout the day, and uses the Pomodoro method to manage time
more efficiently, telling Byrdie,
"It's basically a way to calm our minds since we're all so overstimulated.
If your attention span is short like mine, taking those breaks will help."
But she recognizes that wellness is different for everyone, telling the mag,
"Whenever you make [wellness] seem like a chore, you're not going to want to do it,
you're not going to enjoy it, and then you're not going to reap the benefits.
You have to try to figure out how to make it fun and simple for you."
"I truly believe the only person that can stand in your way, is you."