Miranda Kerr turned down Victoria's Secret return because a 'knot in her stomach' wouldn't go away

Miranda Kerr was genuinely tempted. When Victoria's Secret invited the former Angel back for its October 2026 runway show — staged in Los Angeles exactly 20 years after her debut — she got excited, started thinking about the fun memories, and even had friends and business associates urging her to go for it. Then a knot formed in her stomach, and no amount of meditation could shift it.

Kerr, 43, explained the decision on the November 3 episode of the 'Not Skinny But Not Fat' podcast, hosted by Amanda Hirsch. She had recently walked Stella McCartney's show and felt good about it — 'really in alignment,' she said — which made the Victoria's Secret question feel worth sitting with seriously.

I was really, seriously considering it. I'd just walked Stella McCartney and I had a great time. I felt really in alignment with where I was at, it felt very elegant and I love Stella.— Miranda Kerr, model and KORA Organics founder

When Victoria's Secret asked me [back], I was like, 'Ooh, that could be fun,' and I thought of all the fun memories, and how playful it was and how it would be so cool … to get back out on the runway and give them a wink. I got really excited.— Miranda Kerr, model and KORA Organics founder

But the excitement didn't last. When Kerr turned her attention inward — imagining herself actually on the runway — something shifted.

I got, kind of, anxious and then I was meditating and I really felt into, 'How am I actually going to feel when I'm up there on the runway? Everyone's in their underwear, I'm in my underwear, I'm 43, I have four boys, I'm just … I got, like, this knot in my stomach. As much as I tried to meditate and ease it, it was still there.— Miranda Kerr, model and KORA Organics founder

She found her answer by testing the opposite scenario: what would it feel like to simply say no?

The only way I could resolve it [was] to say, 'OK, you're not going to do the show. How do you feel now?' [and] I felt the knot in my stomach release. That's why I knew it was the right decision for me not to do it as much as I was wanting to.— Miranda Kerr, model and KORA Organics founder

She also drew a contrast with how the Stella McCartney invitation had felt: 'It wasn't feeling expansive the way it felt for me when Stella asked me to walk her show,' she said, according to pedestrian.tv. 'This felt different to me, and I can't really explain why.'

When podcast host Hirsch suggested Kerr may no longer feel connected to that image of herself, Kerr didn't push back hard.

Maybe. I'm at a different stage of my life ... [but] I love all of those fun pictures.— Miranda Kerr, model and KORA Organics founder

Kerr had already signaled her absence publicly the day before the show. In an October 17 Instagram post, she shared throwback runway photos and wrote that while being invited back — especially for a 20th-anniversary milestone — meant a great deal, she 'ultimately felt in my heart it was right to cherish this chapter as it was.' Victoria's Secret responded in the comments: 'Always an Angel to us.'

The October 18 Los Angeles show did feature the return of several other original Angels, including Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Candice Swanepoel, and Ming Xi, according to pedestrian.tv. Kerr's contract with Victoria's Secret ended in 2013; she had first walked the show in 2006 and last appeared on its runway in 2012.

Kerr shares son Flynn, 15, with ex Orlando Bloom, and sons Hart, 8, Myles, 6, and Pierre, 2, with her husband, Evan Spiegel, according to US Magazine. For now, the runway chapter she built at Victoria's Secret stays where she says she wants it — in the past, and intact.

Why it matters — Kerr's candid account of turning down a high-profile comeback — using her body's stress response as the deciding vote over excitement and peer encouragement — offers an unusually transparent window into how a public figure navigates identity and life-stage at 43.

Reported by usatoday.com, usmagazine.com, people.com, ew.com, pedestrian.tv