Jourdan Dunn got sexy on the cover of i-D magazine’s spring 2011 “Exhibition” issue, posing with her BFF Karlie Kloss in nothing but a striped hat covering up both their goods. But while the London-born model’s life may look glamorous on the outside, inside the issue she opens up about a tough year juggling her career and single motherhood.

Back in 2009, the 20-year-old catwalk queen took a break from hitting the runways and starring in a long list of campaigns including Benetton, Yves Saint Laurent, CK Calvin Klein, Top Shop and Gap to welcome her son Riley into the world. Two months after she gave birth, Riley’s father, Jordan Cummings, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for possession of cocaine with intent to supply, leaving her to raise Riley alone.

In the article she speaks about the difficulties of dealing with her son’s sickle cell disease. "The hardest thing is not knowing if Riley is just miserable or if he's in pain and having a crisis," she says. "Last December he had his first crisis, and he was submitted to [the] hospital for a blood transfusion. It was the scariest thing. All I wanted to do was take the pain away … I felt helpless as a mother. But now that we have experienced his first crisis we are more prepared and know what to look out for."


Despite the struggles, Dunn says the best thing about motherhood is “the unconditional love for your child; it's truly amazing.” And even though she’s back at the top her game, she insists that she “will always put Riley before anything else because I'm a mother first; everything else comes after.”

See more excerpts from the article, also on newsstands now, at www.i-donline.com/i-spy/take-world-storm.

(Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)