When @emrata was younger, she always had a boyfriend, jumping from relationship to relationship. They offered a form of protection from the predatory men she encountered in the modeling industry. Until recently, she says, dating wasn’t enjoyable for her. “To use the TikTok phrase, I was a bit of a ‘pick-me girl’ in the sense that I wasn’t very good at deciding what I liked,” she explains. “I really wanted to be chosen. It was hard for me to go on a date with someone and think about how much I did or didn’t like them. I would have been thinking about how they were perceiving me, what it meant, what they wanted from me, what it meant about my self-worth. I don’t have that anymore. So now it’s really fun to go to dinner with someone and be like, ‘Cool. I really enjoyed these parts of them. I really didn’t like these other parts.’ ” Read more on how #EmilyRatajkowski navigates motherhood, dating, and friendships at the link in bio. — November 2022 Issue (on sale November 1) Photographer: @amytroostphotography Stylist: @zaraeloise Creative Director: @lauragenninger Hair: @estherlangham Makeup: @markcarrasquillo Manicure: @michinail Prop Design: @kadulennox Story by: @thessaly #EmilyRatajkowski wears @miumiu and @cartier.