She’s known as the vivacious personality who’s as likely to pop up at Paris Fashion Week or on stage at the ESPY Awards as she is at the most-talked about billionaire wedding of the year. But life for Brooks Nader wasn’t always so huge.
The Baton Rouge-born model and entrepreneur is bringing her 1.7 million Instagram fans behind-the-scenes of her real-life American dream trajectory. The eight-part series Love Thy Nader follows the genetically blessed and hilarious gaggle of Brooks, 28, Mary Holland, 27, Grace Ann, 25, and Sarah Jane, 23, as they keep their parents Breaux and Holland on their toes. “For the majority of our childhood, my dad was working for a non-profit and my mom was at home with the babies,” Nader recalls. “We didn’t have a lot of money, we really just had each other and had to be self-entertaining. I wouldn’t trade that upbringing for the world.”
Despite being raised “extremely Christian and extremely conservative,” she was obsessed with Hollywood and fashion, and would sneak off to read magazines while in the grocery store. “I always wanted to express myself and I wanted to look sexy. I fantasized about living in L.A. or New York, but it seemed worlds away. I also had to toe the line because of where I’m from.”
Nader went to Tulane University on a full-ride scholarship, but with one whisper from someone that they could connect her with a model scout, the then-18-year-old saw the early inklings of a new path. Idolizing the success of humble-origin stars like Cindy Crawford, Pamela Anderson, and Christie Brinkley, she was convinced that she could be next. “I called my parents and said, ‘I’m moving to the Hamptons for the summer!’ They were totally against it, but I moved and got a finance internship all on my own.” She quickly got connected with an agent, too. The subsequent call to tell her parents she was dropping out of school went down like a lead balloon. “They said, ‘This is the dumbest thing you could ever do.’”
Those early years in New York City, taking graveyard shift-hour trains to shoot images for lingerie websites in cold Brooklyn and New Jersey warehouses for very little money, taught her grit and resilience. “I’m thankful and grateful for those jobs to this day; they kept me afloat. You can’t wait for other people—it’s all up to you. You have to put in the work, go do it, and see the vision for yourself.”
If one thing is apparent, it’s that nobody puts Nader in the corner. As making it into the pages of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue was always on her bucket list, she begged her agency to put her forward. “They said, ‘No, we don’t think you have the status. We don’t think you fit their mold at all.’” Noticing the magazine was hosting an open-call audition in Miami, Nader booked a flight and a cheap hotel and stood in the blistering heat for eight hours with 10,000 other hopefuls. The gamble paid off—she was one of six girls from that day who made it into the issue. When Sports Illustrated opened up the fan vote for Rookie of the Year, Nader came out on top. “Then five years later, I made it onto the cover,” she says triumphantly. “I think people really started to take me seriously then. And yes, I did send a signed copy over to my former agents, too.”
It’s this lust for life and cheeky persona, teamed with a tenacious work ethic, that shines through in the show. Her “built-in besties”— aka her sisters—will probably have an easier ride in the industry thanks to the foundations laid by Nader, who says “being a good role model is everything to me.” Next up, they’re cooking up a brand to work on together; likely something in the fashion or beauty space. “It’s a blessing that we get to work together, play together, and create together,” the leader of the pack says.
With her whirlwind schedule, Nader estimates that there have been months lately where she’s been on four or five planes a week. Coupled with long filming days for Love Thy Nader and taking part in last year’s Dancing with the Stars, it’s been a rewarding, but grueling, chapter. “[DWTS] put me in a new mental headspace. It was physically so challenging. Ballroom dancing is a whole different animal.” She adds, “I had some disadvantages in the distraction department… but in the end, I feel like I picked up a lot of skills from it.”
Nader is referring to the offscreen on-and-off romance with her dancing partner, Gleb Savchenko, which ended in April. These days, she is having a “blast” being happily single. “To impress me, it’s all about personality,” she smiles. “I did the whole pretty boy thing. I just want you to make me laugh. And someone who is a great listener, respectful, caring, chilled out, someone who supports my dreams—and is cool with my chaos!” “I feel like I’m always making the plans, so I find it sexy when someone takes control and plans a date— whether you’re picking me up in a car or helicopter,” she adds with a laugh.
Navigating life in the public eye has thickened Nader’s skin, just like those formative years she spent in Manhattan cutting her teeth as an ambitious young model. Last spring, she confirmed that she was “getting the D-word,” as she calls it, amicably ending five years of marriage to her first serious boyfriend. “When I was younger, all I knew was that I should get married, have a husband and be a good wife,” she says poignantly. “That’s what was in our brains from a young age. I thought that was what women were supposed to do. That’s probably why I ended up getting married at such a young age.”
Currently splitting time between Los Angeles and downtown Manhattan, it’s safe to say she has achieved the day-to-day set-up her childhood self wouldn’t even begin to believe. Something that remains on her bucket list might just be the biggest full-circle moment of all. “I’d love to play a version of myself in a movie. A crazy Southern girl who is living in the wild world of New York. Kind of like how Eva Longoria is pretty much herself in Desperate Housewives; she always said she didn’t even have to act!” Your move, Hollywood.