The famous model Natalia Vodianova not only made a brilliant career on the catwalk and starred in several films, but also became a famous philanthropist, the founder of the Naked Heart Foundation for helping children. At thirty-seven, she is also a wonderful mother, raising five children.
Many people compare the story of Vodianova's life with the fabulous story of Cinderella. From an unknown girl from a Russian town, she managed to turn into the most popular model in the world.
Over the past few years, Natalia has been devoting a lot of time to charity. She is the founder of the Naked Heart Foundation, which raises funds and builds sports facilities, play parks and playgrounds for special children. During the existence of the fund, more than a hundred objects have been opened for such children in dozens of Russian cities.
The Foundation also opened a special center in Russia to support families with children in need of special care, and Lekoteka. The program was named “Every Child Deserves a Family”.
Brief biography of the famous model
Natalia's biography began in Nizhny Novgorod in 1982. She was born into an ordinary working-class family. The girl does not remember her father. The parents divorced almost immediately after the birth of their third child. Mom was engaged in raising daughters. One of the girls from birth suffered from a genetic disorder and was disabled, so she needed special care.
Natalya started working early to help the family with money, because they were sorely lacking. She and her mother began to go to the local market, where she traded vegetables. At the age of fifteen, the girl entered a pedagogical school, and a year later her life completely changed.
In 2016, Vodianova was selected for a modeling agency in Nizhny Novgorod and began her modeling career. Soon she was lucky. She was invited to France by a representative of the Viva Model company. After a while Natalia was already in Paris.
However, fame did not come to the girl immediately. When Natalia appeared at a French agency, many felt that she did not fit certain standards in the fashion industry. After the birth of her first child, Vodianova lost a lot of weight and that's when her career began to gain momentum.
Interesting facts from the life of Natalia
Vodianova never dreamed of becoming a model. She really wanted to get out of poverty and help her mother in the upbringing and maintenance of her younger sisters. Even when Natalia arrived in Paris, she did not think that one day she would become one of the most famous models in the world and would be able to provide not only her family, but also create a charitable foundation to help children with disabilities.
In France, she was noticed only in 1999. At one of the shows, Jean Paul Gaultier drew attention to Natalia and offered her cooperation with the fashion house.
At first it was not easy for the girl. It turned out that only her external data is completely insufficient to become a real star of the catwalk. She had to learn a lot, constantly train and spend many hours in rehearsals.
Success came to her immediately after working at New York Fashion Week. Literally the next day, Natalia began to receive numerous proposals from designers, modeling agencies, fashion houses. She signed contracts with representatives of several well-known companies, and soon her photos appeared on the covers of famous magazines, including "Vogue".
In 2002, Vodianova reached the peak of her career, becoming the most sought after model. A year later, Vodianova began working with Calvin Klein, becoming the face of the brand. It is said that Natalia was the only model to whom the firm paid the highest royalties. Nobody has been paid such amounts before in the entire history of the company. Later, Vodianova began working with another well-known brand - L'Oreal Paris.
Personal life of the model
Vodianova married in 2001 to the English aristocrat Justin Trevor Berkeley Portman. He was the brother of the famous billionaire Christopher Portman. Their marriage lasted ten years. In the summer of 2011, Natalya made a statement that they are no longer husband and wife and live separately from each other.
Antoine Arnault became Vodianova's second husband. He is the son of the famous businessman Bernard Arnault, who was voted the richest man in Europe in 2018.
Five beloved children
All of Natalya's children, and today she has five of them, are the heirs of huge fortunes. The three were born to first husband Justin Portman. Natalia gave birth to two more from Anutan Arno.
The first child of the famous model was born in the winter of 2001. Today Lucas-Alexander, that is the name of his son, is already seventeen. He devotes a lot of time to caring for his younger brothers and sister. As Natalia says, Lucas was a very calm and responsible child from early childhood. They traveled a lot, but the boy always endured any trips and long flights very well.
After the creation of the Vodian Open Heart Foundation, Lucas immediately began to take an active part in its activities. Today he also helps his mother. She sometimes even calls him her successor.
The second child in the family was a girl named Neva. She was born in the spring of 2006. From childhood, Neva began to attract the attention of fashion designers with her artistry and excellent external data. The girl early began acting in commercials and participating in fashion shows. Together with her daughter Vodianova, she starred in an advertisement for Zarina, which has developed a line of clothing for mothers and their daughters called Mini Me Collection.
The third child in the family was the son Victor. He was born in the fall of 2007 and got his name in honor of Natalia's grandfather.
A year later, the famous model announced the termination of her career in the modeling business. She said she was going to devote all her time to children and family. Sometimes she still goes on the podium, but only for very large fees as a guest celebrity.
In 2011, Natalia decided to join her future destiny with businessman Antoine Arnault. Their acquaintance took place in 2007, but only four years later they decided that they could not live without each other.
In the spring of 2014, their first joint child was born - their son Maxim. He is still very small, but he is already trying to help his mother in her work with a charitable foundation.
In the summer of 2016, the fifth child of the famous model was born. She had another son, whom her parents named Roman. The first photos of the baby graced the page of a happy mother on Instagram when he was only a couple of weeks old.
