Natalia Vodianova: biography

Name: Natalya Vodyanova

Date of Birth: February 28, 1982

Age: 35 years

Place of Birth: Nizhny Novgorod

Height: 176

Activity: Russian supermodel, actress and philanthropist

Family status: civil marriage

Natalia Vodianova: biography

Natalia Vodianova is a world-famous model, the face of several legendary fashion houses. Recently, Natalya is better known as a philanthropist. The girl actively supports children with physical and mental disabilities and fights for their rights.

The biography of Natalia Vodianova, Cinderella from Nizhny Novgorod, really looks like a fairy tale. This is the story of a rapid rise to sky-high heights from the very bottom.

Natalia Vodianova was born into a more than modest family. The girl does not remember Mikhail Vodyanov’s father. Natasha’s mother, Larisa Viktorovna Gromova, raised her three daughters herself. One of the girls has been disabled since childhood - Vodianova’s sister Oksana was born with a severe form of autism and cerebral palsy.

This caused not only numerous material, but also psychological problems: at that time such diagnoses were not made public; Families had to figure out how to raise and communicate with special children through practical experience. But such a life also greatly influenced the future philanthropist. It was communication with her sister that taught Natalya to value life and encouraged her to help those in need.

Natalya was not a saint; years later she admitted to the press that as a child, not knowing anything about Oksana’s diagnosis, she was naively envious of her sister, who received all the care and attention. Natalya herself was forced to grow up quickly in order to help her family and fully experience what responsibility is while looking after her sick sister.

Mother had a very hard time, and Natalya helped her sell fruit at the market, carrying 30-kilogram boxes of goods. Natalya didn’t even dream of new clothes back then: she had to wear out her old ones. At the age of 15, the schoolgirl entered the Nizhny Novgorod Pedagogical College, and at 16, Vodianova was enrolled in the Evgenia modeling agency. When Natalia remembers her childhood, she admits that it was not easy. As the model admitted in an interview, she began to really smile only at the age of 17.

At one of the screenings, the girl was noticed by a scout from the Viva Model Management agency and invited to a casting by a French agency in Moscow. The appearance of the Slavic beauty captivated the French, and then events developed according to the scenario of a real fairy tale. After several months, the girl went to Paris, where Natalia Vodianova’s modeling biography began.

World catwalks

In 1999, at one of the competitions in Paris, Vodianova was noticed by Jean-Paul Gaultier himself. Immediately after the competition, the famous couturier offered the aspiring model of Russian nationality a job. The start of my career was not easy. The competition was incredible, and all the money earned went towards food and rent.

The Russian Cinderella also had her own Fairy Godmother. A wealthy Frenchman, a doctor by profession, helped the Russian beauty. He sheltered her and solved many everyday problems. He also helped Natalya focus on learning English and work. He still remains a friend and later even became the godfather of Vodianova’s child.

After the participation of the Russian model in New York Fashion Week, Natalia Vodianova began to receive offers. And soon she took part in the shows of Gucci, Ives Saint-Laurent, Calvin Klein. The model starred for famous publications Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.

In 2001, Natalya tried her hand at cinema for the first time. She played in the film Agent Dragonfly. Later, the model’s filmography was replenished with four more films, but Natalia did not have any truly memorable roles. The podium brought her much more popularity than films.

In 2002, Vodianova became the most sought-after model at New York Fashion Week. There she performed for nineteen designers at once. At the same time, Natalya becomes the “face and body” of Calvin Klein, which signed a contract with the Russian model. In the same year, the girl opened and closed shows of Ives Saint-Laurent collections, which are considered the most prestigious in the fashion world.

But the real triumph for the girl from the outback was the shooting for the 2004 Pirelli calendar. Such an honor falls only to the most beautiful women in the world. Natalia Vodianova, according to the Sunday Times, is among the third hundred richest people in Britain. So, in 2003, the model earned more than 3.6 million pounds.

In 2007, it became known that Vodianova became the official face of the legendary French house Chanel. She attended collection shows in Paris, but it is noteworthy that the fashion house itself did not comment on its choice. Natalya became the face of the autumn cosmetics collection.

At the beginning of 2008, already in the status of a mother of many children, Natalia Vodianova announced her retirement from the modeling business. She decided to devote herself to family, children and charity. Natalia's appearance at the Valentino Haute Couture collection was the last in the fashion model's official career.

However, Natalia returns to the catwalk from time to time and participates in some fashion shows as a guest star for very large fees.

In 2009, Natalya received a place as a co-host of the semi-finals of the international music competition Eurovision, held in Moscow. He became the second presenter.

Her love for children affected all of Natalia’s activities. In 2013, she became the new TV presenter of the popular children's show “The Voice. Children” and admitted to the press that she came to the program only because she loves children very much. The model acted as a co-host.

Natalya is an active participant in various major sporting events. So, in 2014, she took part in the presentation of Sochi 2014, held in Vancouver, and later became a participant in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sochi. Natalia Vodianova also became the host of the draw ceremony for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament.

Charity

Popularity and large incomes allowed Natalya to think about the well-being of not only her own family, but also the world around her. Vodianova became an active philanthropist. Soon, charity became an integral and rather large part of the model’s life.

A poor and problematic childhood and the illness of her sister Oksana are forever etched in Vodianova’s memory. When fame and wealth brought her to the very top of Olympus, Natalya did not harden. In 2004, a successful model with worldwide fame founded her own Naked Heart Foundation for the construction of children's playgrounds in Russia and abroad.

The Foundation is engaged not only in construction, it also carries out information and educational functions. Natalya remembers the information vacuum her family had to live in, and does not want other families, who are already having a hard time because of their child’s illness, to also be forced to go through this.

The press linked this foundation with Natalia’s sick sister, but Vodianova said that she was inspired to work with playgrounds not by sympathy, but by her own past. My sister, due to autism, did not feel isolation as much as little Natasha, who always walked with Oksana and felt very distant from other children. According to Vodianova, in childhood no one wants to stand out, this is the prerogative of teenagers and adults, and in childhood everyone wants to be together and the same, which is why Natalya started building places where all children can play together.

The logo for the foundation was designed and drawn by Natalia Vodianova’s first husband, Justin Portman. In a short period, the foundation has built more than a hundred playgrounds and parks in 68 cities of Russia.

In 2011, Natalya opened another charity program, “Every Child Deserves a Family,” which deals with the problems of children with special needs, and whose main activities are aimed at changing the current system in Russia, in which more and more families are abandoning children with special needs.

Scandal

In 2015, a scandal broke out. The sister of a famous model was insulted and... Because of her diagnosis, the girl has a specific appearance and behavior, which, according to the cafe management, frightened other visitors. An unpleasant conflict broke out. Oksana's mother even called the police to punish the offenders. A case was even opened against representatives of the cafe for insulting honor and dignity. Various stars and world media became interested in the conflict and came out in support of Vodianova and her sister.

According to representatives of the cafe, everything looked completely different. According to the press, the girl became thirsty and went behind the bar, and when they tried to not let her into the service area and direct her to a place intended for visitors, she began banging her head against the walls. After this, Oksana was asked to call an ambulance and asked to leave the cafe. The girl allegedly continued to hit her head and then sat on the floor. Her escorts did not explain the situation in any way, and the waiters did not know how to react.

According to the cafe employees, no one insulted Oksana, they offered to call an ambulance, since the girl behaved strangely, and no one was sure that she was not injured, and no one tried to force her out either.

The scandal caused a public outcry. Celebrities and journalists began to speak openly about the problems and difficulties of people with disabilities. Vodianova, as an activist and philanthropist, admitted that the unpleasant situation with her sister also had its advantages.

The country was literally divided into two camps on this issue, and each had its own arguments and reasons. On the one hand, many people supported Vodianova; they believe that people with special needs should receive the same services and the same treatment as the rest of the population. But there were also those who asked a reasonable question about the danger. After all, the girl’s behavior, which led to the scandal, was dangerous, at least for herself, and no one in the cafe knew whether a child with mental disorders would suddenly become dangerous to other visitors.

This resonance unsettled all parties to the conflict. When asked by journalists, Oksana and Natalya’s mother asked to leave her and the child alone. Employees of the cafe and neighboring entertainment and food outlets began to avoid the press, and the scandalous establishment itself was closed. After the high-profile story, the cafe underwent numerous inspections, which revealed a huge number of violations. The management stated that they had no more violations than neighboring cafes, they simply fell under the threat and became hostages of the situation.

Natalya herself called on the press not to demonize the cafe’s management. She met with her sister's offenders and tried to calmly talk about the situation. The parties understood each other. As the model told the press, these were not bad or cruel people, they acted this way simply out of surprise and unfamiliarity, because the entire Russian society is not adapted to communicating with disabled people and special people.

Personal life

As befits a true Cinderella, a prince appeared in Natalia Vodianova’s personal life. In Paris, at one of the closed parties, Natalya met art collector and freelance artist Justin Portman. The 33-year-old English aristocrat and the Russian model did not immediately like each other. Their acquaintance was marked by a loud quarrel. But already on the second day, Portman called Vodianova, apologized and offered to meet. Since then, the couple has not been separated.

At the beginning of 2001, the model went to a photo shoot in Africa. The English aristocrat also traveled with his Russian beloved. Natalia returned to Europe pregnant. Justin Portman was next to Natasha at the time of the birth of his son.

Their first child, Lucas, was born in London, and six weeks after his birth, Vodianova returned to the podium. Motherhood did not affect the supermodel's appearance in any way. The young mother continued to work hard, but now Justin and Lucas were with her everywhere.

Natalia Vodianova and Justin Portman got married after the birth of their son. The marriage was recorded on September 1, 2002 in St. Petersburg. The celebration was a great success. They partied widely, in Russian style, for three days, and a banquet was organized for the guests of honor in Peterhof. The Throne Hall of the Grand Palace was rented for the newlyweds and their guests and they even turned on the fountains. Guests were entertained by ballet dancers from the Mariinsky Theater. Soon the couple had a daughter, Neva, and in 2007, a son, Victor.

But every fairy tale has an end. The personal life of Natalia Vodianova and Justin Portman ended in divorce. Journalists believe that the reason for the divorce was that Natalya met a new love. The French billionaire, son of the owner of the LVMH concern, Antoine Arnault and Natalia Vodianova met back in 2007, but the romantic relationship between them developed only in 2011. Natalya first appeared with Arno while still married to Portman.

In August 2013, Natalia Vodianova’s personal life followed a new scenario: she accepted Antoine’s offer to move from London to noisy Paris. On May 2, 2014, Natalia Vodianova and Antoine Arnault had a son, Maxim. And in June 2016, a son, Roman, was born into the family, becoming Vodianova’s fifth child.

Natalia Vodianova now

Vodianova constantly adheres to a diet and even put her children on it. With a height of 176 centimeters, she weighs from 45 to 50 kg, but Natalya does not at all require her own children to meet model standards. The mother selected diets for them that were gentle and aimed at improving the health of the body.

In an interview for British publications, Natalya explained her parenting methods by saying that monitoring weight and eating habits is important from a young age, because the habit of what, how and when to eat will remain with children for life. Vodianova does not require children to follow complex diets and does not starve them, she simply asks them to adhere to a diet from which various harmful foods are excluded and the amount of sweets is reduced.

Now Natalya continues to work. She began to take part in the activities of the foundation, returned to the catwalk just three months after the birth of her youngest child and showed off a magnificent figure. Natalya wrote about her decision to end her maternity leave early on her Instagram.

In 2017, Natalia Vodianova discovered a new direction of activism; she became the face of the environmental collection of the H&M brand. The girl posed in a light flowing dress made of pleated fabric. But what was special was not the appearance of the clothes, but its material. The dress, like the rest of the collection, is made from the new Bionic material, or, simply put, from recycled waste found in the oceans and coastal areas.