Helena Christensen
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Helena Christensen: "I'm 41 and better than ever.. I will worry about age at 120"
Often hailed as the most beautiful of the original supermodels, she recently posed in nothing but a pair of trainers and she still has a face and figure that models young enough to be her daughter would envy.
But Helena, 41, isn't surprised that she and contemporaries Naomi Campbell, Elle Macpherson, Linda Evangelista and Claudia Schiffer, who all rose to fame in the 1990s, are still hot properties.
"It's great that we're all still in such demand and working after 40. But why not? All the girls still look incredible - in fact we're better than ever."
But she doesn't take the "supermodel" tag too seriously.
She says: "I always thought it was kind of embarrassing and funny, but I'm grateful to have been part of something that felt like that. It was truly special.
"Thank God the whole supermodel phenomenon happened when I started modelling because it was certainly fun. We were a little group of girls doing this crazy job and it's cool that everyone's still there, working even after having families.
"We were a group of girls who came along at the same time. We all looked different and we all represented different cultures and different personalities. Someone just labelled us the supermodels - it's one of those labels you get stuck with. But we are all still part of something that we did together."
In fact, Helena reveals that the original gang stay in close touch. "That's the good thing about emailing.
"You think about someone and you send off a little 'How are you? What's going on? I miss you'."
One of Helena's best friends is Naomi, who recently turned 40.
"Naomi is a dear friend. Funnily enough she is the first person who calls me on my birthday every year. And every Christmas Day at a few minutes past midnight my phone always goes - she will be goodness knows where in the world, but my mum will go, 'there goes Naomi'. It's so sweet."
We caught up with Helena as she launched an eco hotel in Rome, sponsored by Corona Beer. The hotel has been entirely built from debris reclaimed from Europe's beaches.
Helena devotes a lot of energy to campaigning on green issues as well as pursuing her successful second career as a photographer. But while her modelling days are far from over she admits that she does have to try a little harder.
"I wasn't worried about turning 40 at all. I want to live to be 120. That's when I will start worrying about my age. But things have changed now and I do have to exercise a lot - I didn't do any at all when I was young."
Helena rejects accusations models have to starve themselves to stay in work, saying: "I've eaten my way through the 20 years that I have been working. All of the girls I worked with ate their way through it too. That's why I started exercising. I wanted to be able to enjoy food the way I have always done.
"I never had very big issues with my body. It was only when I was in my early teens that I struggled. It was the usual thing about being very skinny and getting very tall very fast. They were my hardest years. Throughout my life I had other things to worry about - I wasn't always thinking about my body."
The other thing Helena has to keep her mind off her body is Mingus, her 10-year-old son with actor Norman Reedus. Helena and Norman separated when Mingus was three, but she says she is happy balancing motherhood and work. "I never really felt like I was a single mum as I have a very close family nearby. Even his dad lives within 10 minutes of my home in New York."
Helena, who lived with Michael Hutchence for four years, is single, but says she is happy that way. "I've never minded being single. I think it's amazing to meet new people and get to understand and be curious about people's minds and how people get under your skin. But being single, you're always talked about, even though you're basically just being yourself in your life."
She says she goes for old-fashioned gentlemen: "There's always something kind of wonderful about a man opening the door for you or paying for dinner or just basically in small ways being very nurturing about you."
But whatever happens on the romance front, Helena's happy to take life as it comes. "I'm a hippy at heart, I've never made plans - that is the worst thing you can do."
Helena is supporting the Corona Save the Beach campaign.
Mirror
Helena Christensen: "I'm 41 and better than ever.. I will worry about age at 120"
Often hailed as the most beautiful of the original supermodels, she recently posed in nothing but a pair of trainers and she still has a face and figure that models young enough to be her daughter would envy.
But Helena, 41, isn't surprised that she and contemporaries Naomi Campbell, Elle Macpherson, Linda Evangelista and Claudia Schiffer, who all rose to fame in the 1990s, are still hot properties.
"It's great that we're all still in such demand and working after 40. But why not? All the girls still look incredible - in fact we're better than ever."
But she doesn't take the "supermodel" tag too seriously.
She says: "I always thought it was kind of embarrassing and funny, but I'm grateful to have been part of something that felt like that. It was truly special.
"Thank God the whole supermodel phenomenon happened when I started modelling because it was certainly fun. We were a little group of girls doing this crazy job and it's cool that everyone's still there, working even after having families.
"We were a group of girls who came along at the same time. We all looked different and we all represented different cultures and different personalities. Someone just labelled us the supermodels - it's one of those labels you get stuck with. But we are all still part of something that we did together."
In fact, Helena reveals that the original gang stay in close touch. "That's the good thing about emailing.
"You think about someone and you send off a little 'How are you? What's going on? I miss you'."
One of Helena's best friends is Naomi, who recently turned 40.
"Naomi is a dear friend. Funnily enough she is the first person who calls me on my birthday every year. And every Christmas Day at a few minutes past midnight my phone always goes - she will be goodness knows where in the world, but my mum will go, 'there goes Naomi'. It's so sweet."
We caught up with Helena as she launched an eco hotel in Rome, sponsored by Corona Beer. The hotel has been entirely built from debris reclaimed from Europe's beaches.
Helena devotes a lot of energy to campaigning on green issues as well as pursuing her successful second career as a photographer. But while her modelling days are far from over she admits that she does have to try a little harder.
"I wasn't worried about turning 40 at all. I want to live to be 120. That's when I will start worrying about my age. But things have changed now and I do have to exercise a lot - I didn't do any at all when I was young."
Helena rejects accusations models have to starve themselves to stay in work, saying: "I've eaten my way through the 20 years that I have been working. All of the girls I worked with ate their way through it too. That's why I started exercising. I wanted to be able to enjoy food the way I have always done.
"I never had very big issues with my body. It was only when I was in my early teens that I struggled. It was the usual thing about being very skinny and getting very tall very fast. They were my hardest years. Throughout my life I had other things to worry about - I wasn't always thinking about my body."
The other thing Helena has to keep her mind off her body is Mingus, her 10-year-old son with actor Norman Reedus. Helena and Norman separated when Mingus was three, but she says she is happy balancing motherhood and work. "I never really felt like I was a single mum as I have a very close family nearby. Even his dad lives within 10 minutes of my home in New York."
Helena, who lived with Michael Hutchence for four years, is single, but says she is happy that way. "I've never minded being single. I think it's amazing to meet new people and get to understand and be curious about people's minds and how people get under your skin. But being single, you're always talked about, even though you're basically just being yourself in your life."
She says she goes for old-fashioned gentlemen: "There's always something kind of wonderful about a man opening the door for you or paying for dinner or just basically in small ways being very nurturing about you."
But whatever happens on the romance front, Helena's happy to take life as it comes. "I'm a hippy at heart, I've never made plans - that is the worst thing you can do."
Helena is supporting the Corona Save the Beach campaign.
Mirror
moussemaker
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found this in Isabeli's thread
Quote:
Magazine "Marie Claire" U.S. is preparing a special edition about supermodels who are mothers. The purpose of the magazine is to rais money for St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis, USA.
The special edition will be photographed by supermodel Helena Christensen in New York and will feature big names such as Angela Lindvall, Karen Elson, Bianca Balti, Natalia Vodianova, Karolina Kurkova, Isabeli Fontana and Helena herself, who will produce a self portrait.
There will be also a film session that will be displayed during the launch of the publication, during a charity dinner at the Milk Studios, in New York.
gente.ig.com.br via journalist Gabriel Ruas/ isafontana_fan fotolog
Quote:
Magazine "Marie Claire" U.S. is preparing a special edition about supermodels who are mothers. The purpose of the magazine is to rais money for St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis, USA.
The special edition will be photographed by supermodel Helena Christensen in New York and will feature big names such as Angela Lindvall, Karen Elson, Bianca Balti, Natalia Vodianova, Karolina Kurkova, Isabeli Fontana and Helena herself, who will produce a self portrait.
There will be also a film session that will be displayed during the launch of the publication, during a charity dinner at the Milk Studios, in New York.
gente.ig.com.br via journalist Gabriel Ruas/ isafontana_fan fotolog
Thanks KissMissThe interview is so honest that's why she is so relatable
My pleasure! Agree, in her interviews she always sound very normal and real and smart...
This is such an amazing piece of news! I loved her first work for Marie Claire... and I hope this one is going to be amazing as well... and how wonderful that she will be featured as well... it would be seriously hot if they all appeared on the cover...
Northern Star
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I saw Madame Figaro and although the shots are goregous and ethereal and Helena looks amazing as per......some of the shots are needlessly heavily photoshopped and we all know she doesn't need any of that crap.
versustito
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Model Helena Christensen had to leave a new eco-friendly hotel in Rome because of the state of the toilets.
Christensen, 41, was the first guest at the new hotel, which has been built out of rubbish found on beaches across Europe as part of Corona's Save The Beach Campaign.
The hotel doesn't have chemical toilets or showers and has only a ripped sheet as curtains.
Christensen, an environmental activist herself, checked in to the Trash Hotel but couldn't stay a full night.
She said to UK newspaper Daily Express: "I am not too squeamish but I couldn't stomach a Portaloo when nature called. I was the first guest to check in.
"The bed was made from wood and bits of concrete, the walls covered with an exhaust, tyres, plastic bottles and other rubbish that people had left behind on beaches.
"There were only five rooms so it was very friendly. I am disgusted by the way people drop rubbish all over our beautiful beaches. But I bailed out in the early hours when I saw the toilet."
The model added: "I hope I've made my point but I didn't want to start training for festival toilets. I'd rather go behind a tree than in a Portaloo - they're horrible."
express.co.uk
Christensen, 41, was the first guest at the new hotel, which has been built out of rubbish found on beaches across Europe as part of Corona's Save The Beach Campaign.
The hotel doesn't have chemical toilets or showers and has only a ripped sheet as curtains.
Christensen, an environmental activist herself, checked in to the Trash Hotel but couldn't stay a full night.
She said to UK newspaper Daily Express: "I am not too squeamish but I couldn't stomach a Portaloo when nature called. I was the first guest to check in.
"The bed was made from wood and bits of concrete, the walls covered with an exhaust, tyres, plastic bottles and other rubbish that people had left behind on beaches.
"There were only five rooms so it was very friendly. I am disgusted by the way people drop rubbish all over our beautiful beaches. But I bailed out in the early hours when I saw the toilet."
The model added: "I hope I've made my point but I didn't want to start training for festival toilets. I'd rather go behind a tree than in a Portaloo - they're horrible."
express.co.uk
mistress_f
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well, must be some kind of promotional thing for the CFDA's, since they were honouring michael kors this year and he's in the photo..
Spiral1532
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Atelier Versace A/W 1991
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I wonder if they are going to publish them... maybe US Vogue? would be great! Thanks anyway!
Spiral1532
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Atelier Versace, A/W 1991
gianniversacetribute.ning.com
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Another cover from Helena...
Corduroy Issue No. 7 USA
and here's the article that goes with the cover story.
Issue VII
Ignore, for a minute, the looks that have made Helena Christensen a supermodel: the eyes that are the color and complexity of lapis, the lips pouted just so, and the sculptural curves of what Gianni Versace once called “the most beautiful body in the world.” After two decades in the industry, Christensen’s still got it. But the most alluring thing about her just might be her voice.
It’s low and slightly smoky, with a lingering Danish accent. When she talks, her voice shifts from mirthful to conspiratorial as she volunteers different anecdotes; her words tumble into each other when she’s excited about a subject, which is often. She jokes about her young son’s class cookbook project, for which he reasoned they could simply “put ‘organic’ in front of everything” to make a recipe healthy. She expresses disgust for tabloids and expounds on her love of print media, especially MAD Magazine and The New York Times. “I want to be buried with a MAD Magazine on my chest,” Christensen declares, “just in case I wake up.”
Maybe Christensen has mastered the art of the interview. She’s been in the public eye now for half her life, as a former Miss Denmark who became the face — and body — of Victoria’s Secret, while gracing countless magazine covers and runways. More recently, she’s worked as a photographer, shooting everything from Peruvians affected by melting glaciers to a Nike campaign with some of the world’s greatest female athletes. But Christensen’s also genuinely warm, with a crackling sense of humor and disarming word choice. To wit: she describes learning to surf, while shooting for Nike in Hawaii, as “the raddest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” About two melancholic works by Henryk Górecki, one of her favorite composers, Christensen says, “[‘Sorrowful Songs’ and ‘Goodnight’ are] definitely the kind of music that if you’re feeling sad about something, it either pulls it out of you and negates it because it’s so sad itself, or it makes you want to slit your wrists.”
What is quickly made obvious in conversation with Christensen — besides that marvelous voice — is the many interests she reveals and the evident passion she has for each. When she talks about traveling the world, her career and, most of all, being a mother to her young son, you wonder how she has the time and energy to do it all. But the work that Christensen is most famous for is only a tiny part of her universe. And whatever else you’ve likely heard about her isn’t nearly as interesting (or factual, for that matter) as what she’ll tell you herself.
corduroy.com
Corduroy Issue No. 7 USA
and here's the article that goes with the cover story.
Issue VII
Ignore, for a minute, the looks that have made Helena Christensen a supermodel: the eyes that are the color and complexity of lapis, the lips pouted just so, and the sculptural curves of what Gianni Versace once called “the most beautiful body in the world.” After two decades in the industry, Christensen’s still got it. But the most alluring thing about her just might be her voice.
It’s low and slightly smoky, with a lingering Danish accent. When she talks, her voice shifts from mirthful to conspiratorial as she volunteers different anecdotes; her words tumble into each other when she’s excited about a subject, which is often. She jokes about her young son’s class cookbook project, for which he reasoned they could simply “put ‘organic’ in front of everything” to make a recipe healthy. She expresses disgust for tabloids and expounds on her love of print media, especially MAD Magazine and The New York Times. “I want to be buried with a MAD Magazine on my chest,” Christensen declares, “just in case I wake up.”
Maybe Christensen has mastered the art of the interview. She’s been in the public eye now for half her life, as a former Miss Denmark who became the face — and body — of Victoria’s Secret, while gracing countless magazine covers and runways. More recently, she’s worked as a photographer, shooting everything from Peruvians affected by melting glaciers to a Nike campaign with some of the world’s greatest female athletes. But Christensen’s also genuinely warm, with a crackling sense of humor and disarming word choice. To wit: she describes learning to surf, while shooting for Nike in Hawaii, as “the raddest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” About two melancholic works by Henryk Górecki, one of her favorite composers, Christensen says, “[‘Sorrowful Songs’ and ‘Goodnight’ are] definitely the kind of music that if you’re feeling sad about something, it either pulls it out of you and negates it because it’s so sad itself, or it makes you want to slit your wrists.”
What is quickly made obvious in conversation with Christensen — besides that marvelous voice — is the many interests she reveals and the evident passion she has for each. When she talks about traveling the world, her career and, most of all, being a mother to her young son, you wonder how she has the time and energy to do it all. But the work that Christensen is most famous for is only a tiny part of her universe. And whatever else you’ve likely heard about her isn’t nearly as interesting (or factual, for that matter) as what she’ll tell you herself.
corduroy.com
Here is the wonderful statement from Helena regarding climate changes... it is actually very strong statement...
Helena Christensen Calls Climate Change “A Living Nightmare”
June 15th, 2010 · Posted by dave
No comments yet
Category: Campaigns · Climate Change
Oxfam Global Ambassador, Helena Christensen, offers her personal thoughts on climate change:
While it was difficult to find my breath at 15,000 feet up in the Andes, it was not hard to be completely moved by the challenges facing the people who live at the foot of the Ausangate Glacier.
I took the trek as part of my work with the humanitarian organization Oxfam last fall, to learn about and document the impacts of climate change on my mother’s homeland, Peru. As leaders of the richest countries make their own trek to Canada for the G8 and G20 Summits, I too am compelled to do my part to amplify the voices and concerns of the people I met.
They are farmers and alpaca herders with rosy cheeks and colorful hats who live in close proximity of the Ausangate, as their ancestors have for thousands of years. And for thousands of years, the glacier has helped to sustain their livelihoods, with the run-off from the melting ice filling rivers, providing fresh water, and sustaining crops. But that is all changing now.
The glacier is melting and receding at an alarming rate, scientists are predicting Peru’s typical glaciers to melt by 2015 – just five years from now! A melting glacier means more water now, but much less in the future. Less water means less pasture for their alpaca and less nourishment for their crops. If the alpaca don’t have enough to eat, their wool doesn’t grow, providing less of it to be woven into the traditional Andean hats, sweaters, and scarves that bring a livelihood to so many. And failed crops means no food on the table.
Like millions of other poor people around the world, from Mali to the Maldives, the people of the Ausangate are living on the front lines of climate change. While they have contributed the least to the climate crisis, they are suffering the hardest from its impacts, from increasing floods to more frequent droughts, from desertification to rising sea levels.
And while leaders of wealthy countries haven’t been courageous enough to tackle climate change, the people of the Ausangate are courageously fighting back however they can, using ancestral knowledge and techniques to collect water from the mountainous wet lands while favoring more resilient alpacas and crops.
We must help them.
In my hometown of Copenhagen last December, negotiators from wealthy countries seemed to play a dangerous game of chess, filled with hushed conversations, wild rumors, and constant bluffing, all to protect their own self interests. All the while, poor and vulnerable countries were fighting for their future and survival. Everyone almost walked away empty-handed, but a last minute commitment for a global fund to help poor countries adapt to the impacts of climate change and adopt clean technologies was made. But it left me wondering – was it part of the game or was it real?
The time for games is over. Climate change is not a dreamed-up concept; it’s a living nightmare.
The people I met are changing the way they live to survive, but they know that their futures are not in their hands. When world leaders meet at the end of June in Canada, they ought to make good on their promise to help poor communities with funds to cope with climate change.
While they won’t be able to deliver a much-needed global deal on climate change, they do have the opportunity to breathe new life in the negotiations by making progress on their promise of a $100 billion a year fund to help poor countries fight climate change.
Such funds can help vulnerable communities adopt innovative techniques that help them efficiently harvest water, warn against oncoming floods, protect against dangerous storms and grow more resilient crops.
This support must be in addition to the promises that have already been made for aid. How on earth can a community be expected to choose between building a hospital or building a flood defense? It would be like choosing whether my son were to go to school or see a doctor. It’s an impossible decision that no one should ever be forced to make.
Yes, we are talking big numbers and it won’t be an easy ride – but the longer we take to act, the bigger the numbers will they become. Innovative proposals are already on the table to fund investments in the resilience of communities around the world. The ingredients are there. The only thing missing is the political will and the confidence to square up to what is the biggest crisis the world has ever faced. The cost of inaction? Well, that’s an even rougher ride.
oxfam
Helena Christensen Calls Climate Change “A Living Nightmare”
June 15th, 2010 · Posted by dave
No comments yet
Category: Campaigns · Climate Change
Oxfam Global Ambassador, Helena Christensen, offers her personal thoughts on climate change:
While it was difficult to find my breath at 15,000 feet up in the Andes, it was not hard to be completely moved by the challenges facing the people who live at the foot of the Ausangate Glacier.
I took the trek as part of my work with the humanitarian organization Oxfam last fall, to learn about and document the impacts of climate change on my mother’s homeland, Peru. As leaders of the richest countries make their own trek to Canada for the G8 and G20 Summits, I too am compelled to do my part to amplify the voices and concerns of the people I met.
They are farmers and alpaca herders with rosy cheeks and colorful hats who live in close proximity of the Ausangate, as their ancestors have for thousands of years. And for thousands of years, the glacier has helped to sustain their livelihoods, with the run-off from the melting ice filling rivers, providing fresh water, and sustaining crops. But that is all changing now.
The glacier is melting and receding at an alarming rate, scientists are predicting Peru’s typical glaciers to melt by 2015 – just five years from now! A melting glacier means more water now, but much less in the future. Less water means less pasture for their alpaca and less nourishment for their crops. If the alpaca don’t have enough to eat, their wool doesn’t grow, providing less of it to be woven into the traditional Andean hats, sweaters, and scarves that bring a livelihood to so many. And failed crops means no food on the table.
Like millions of other poor people around the world, from Mali to the Maldives, the people of the Ausangate are living on the front lines of climate change. While they have contributed the least to the climate crisis, they are suffering the hardest from its impacts, from increasing floods to more frequent droughts, from desertification to rising sea levels.
And while leaders of wealthy countries haven’t been courageous enough to tackle climate change, the people of the Ausangate are courageously fighting back however they can, using ancestral knowledge and techniques to collect water from the mountainous wet lands while favoring more resilient alpacas and crops.
We must help them.
In my hometown of Copenhagen last December, negotiators from wealthy countries seemed to play a dangerous game of chess, filled with hushed conversations, wild rumors, and constant bluffing, all to protect their own self interests. All the while, poor and vulnerable countries were fighting for their future and survival. Everyone almost walked away empty-handed, but a last minute commitment for a global fund to help poor countries adapt to the impacts of climate change and adopt clean technologies was made. But it left me wondering – was it part of the game or was it real?
The time for games is over. Climate change is not a dreamed-up concept; it’s a living nightmare.
The people I met are changing the way they live to survive, but they know that their futures are not in their hands. When world leaders meet at the end of June in Canada, they ought to make good on their promise to help poor communities with funds to cope with climate change.
While they won’t be able to deliver a much-needed global deal on climate change, they do have the opportunity to breathe new life in the negotiations by making progress on their promise of a $100 billion a year fund to help poor countries fight climate change.
Such funds can help vulnerable communities adopt innovative techniques that help them efficiently harvest water, warn against oncoming floods, protect against dangerous storms and grow more resilient crops.
This support must be in addition to the promises that have already been made for aid. How on earth can a community be expected to choose between building a hospital or building a flood defense? It would be like choosing whether my son were to go to school or see a doctor. It’s an impossible decision that no one should ever be forced to make.
Yes, we are talking big numbers and it won’t be an easy ride – but the longer we take to act, the bigger the numbers will they become. Innovative proposals are already on the table to fund investments in the resilience of communities around the world. The ingredients are there. The only thing missing is the political will and the confidence to square up to what is the biggest crisis the world has ever faced. The cost of inaction? Well, that’s an even rougher ride.
oxfam
