Kate Upton felt she was treated like a ''toy'' after appearing on the cover of a men's magazine.

The 21-year-old model was upset after displaying her enviable figure on the front of the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated last year, because it attracted unwanted attention from married men.

Speaking to the US edition of ELLE magazine, she said: ''After my first Sports Illustrated cover, I felt terrible about myself for a solid month.

''Every single guy I met was either married or about to be married, and I felt like I was their bachelor present or something. I'm not a toy, I'm a human. I'm not here to be used. I am a grown woman, and you need to figure your s**t out.''

However, it's not just the male population that give the blonde bombshell a hard time, as she believes women pick on her and brand her ''dumb'' simply because of her natural good looks.

She explained: ''People deal with models like they are children.

''They think they can pull one over on you. It's actually funny. I'm always like, 'I'm about to pull something on you, and you're so focused on thinking I'm dumb you're not even going to know.' ''