Sasha Gardner: 'I Used to Get Really Upset'

Jan. 3, 2007— -- British model Sasha Gardner's career is still on the way up, and at first glance, the 25-year-old seems perfect. But Gardner had an imperfection that was also her big secret.

"If I see a perfect woman or a perfect guy, but there's probably something, if you spoke to them, that they're not happy about either," said Gardner, who lives in Bournemouth, England.

Some shots of Gardner modeling lingerie reveal a lot of her body, but what you won't ever see is her right ear. Gardner was born deaf in one ear, a disability coupled with a deformity called microtia that affects about one in 10,000 people.

"It's not ever stopped me from doing things that I want to do," she said.

Growing up, Gardner said she pretty much took her disability in stride, until other children wouldn't let her.

"Some children say things because they're just curious. But others mean it to torment someone else," she said. "So I tried to make out that it was fun, and I used to laugh. … And then I used to go home and get really upset."

Gardner said she used to go home and cry, but as she grew older, she also grew more self-assured. Her ear -- or lack of ear -- simply wasn't going to define who she was, but there were always reminders of the deformity, such as one night at a bar while having a drink with a young man.

"I remember it was really hot in the bar, so I went to put my hair [up], so it was off my back and he saw my ear and he was like, 'Oh, my God, what is that? That is disgusting,'" she recalled. "And I just thought, you're a grown man, you know, I'm a young woman. You shouldn't, you shouldn't do that."

Gardner was able to neatly hide her deformity in pictures, but not on the set of a photo shoot.

"When a makeup artist is doing my makeup, you know, naturally they want to put your hair behind your ear. … And I know it's coming, but they don't."

Gardner said in the past she didn't tell makeup artists about her ear in advance because "it's quite embarrassing to say."

Gardner did talk about her disability with those close to her, like her boyfriend of five years, Matthew Churcher. She said she told him right away.