Natalia Vodianova Biography

Name : Natalia Vodianova

Date of Birth : 28 February 1982, Gorky, Russian SFSR

Height : 5' 9" (1.75 m)

Occupation : Model

Natalia Vodianova (born 28 February 1982) is a Russian supermodel.

Natalia Vodianova and Fredrik Ljungberg in a commercial for Calvin Klein. Born in Gorky (now Nizhni Novgorod), Russia's third largest city, she lived with her mother and two half-sisters in unpleasant conditions. Her mother's abusive boyfriends and a tight financial situation dogged her throughout childhood.

Helping her mother with her fruit stall business at the tender age of 11, Vodianova moved into her own apartment with a friend at 15 years old. They started their own fruit stall to help out the struggling family and were actually quite successful, all things considered. They were able to help out Vodianova's sisters, one of whom is an invalid.

In 2001, Vodianova married The Honourable Justin Trevor Berkeley Portman, heir to a family that owns large parts of central London, and half-brother of the 10th Viscount Portman. The couple now have three children: Lucas Alexander, born in 2001, Neva, born in 2006, and Viktor, born in 2007. Vodianova famously attended the Golden Age Of Couture Gala at the Victoria and Albert Museum in sample-sized Givenchy couture just days after giving birth to her third child.

In 2005 Vodianova founded the Naked Heart Foundation, an organisation that aims to provide play facilities for children in urban Russia. The organisation has built nearly thirty play parks, its first in Vodianova's hometown of Nizhny Novgorod.