Katherine Webb posed in a matching black bra and underwear for the April 2013 issue Vanity Fair and spoke to the magazine about her boyfriend AJ McCarron, the media attention she receives and the "ugly duckling" she was in school.

The publication called Webb, who is also Miss Alabama 2012, "the modern-day Cindy Crawford." She is girlfriend to an Alabama quarterback and opened up to the magazine about major Southern social events: football games.

"As you know the South is known for its hospitality, traditions, football, pageants, and food. Football is almost like a religion here," Webb said. "People say their priorities are faith, family, and then football. People eat, breathe, and sleep it in the South. It's a huge deal."

While describing the different ways her and her friend prep for the games, such as going tailgating, she described her relationship with McCarron, who is in the center of all the action being on the football field himself. With Alabama having one of the greatest rivalries in all of college football - Auburn vs. Alabama - Webb said people take the games so seriously that teams have even admitted to hating each other.

"It's creating almost a civil war within one state," she said. "Now you can see why an Auburn grad, who is a beauty queen dating a University of Alabama star quarterback, will make national headlines. People call us the Romeo and Juliet of Alabama."

Webb also talked about the amount of media attention she receives now, a long way from her pageant days. The 23-year-old posed for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, acted as a Super Bowl anchor and stars in the upcoming ABC show Splash. She said the attention is ironic because she grew up "as the ugly duckling."

"I was always the tallest girl in my class, and it made me have really bad posture because I wanted to seem shorter than I really was. It really reflected how I felt about myself," she said. "I spent most of my youth in school feeling really insecure about the way I looked because I was different."

Webb said modeling and pageants helped her overcome her feelings of insecurity, though she added that "I'm totally the complete opposite of a pageant girl."

"The only reason I did pageants was for the opportunities that come with it. If I can use my beauty to that advantage, then why not?" she said. "Pageants and modeling helped me learn beauty routines and how to dress up, and how to use fashion to be individualistic."