Elle Macpherson
Elle Macpherson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Eleanor Nancy Gow |
| Spouse(s) | Gilles Bensimon (1985 - 1989) (divorced) Arpad Busson (2002 - present) 2 children |
| Modeling information | |
| Height | 6' (183 cm)[1] |
| Hair color | light brown |
| Eye color | brown |
| Website | http://www.ellemacphersonintimates.com |
Elle Macpherson (born 29 March, 1964) is an Australian businesswoman, supermodel and actress. She is most famous worldwide for her five cover appearances on Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue in the 1980s and 1990s. Nicknamed “The Body”, she is 6' (1.83 m) tall.
Biography
Early life
Macpherson was born Eleanor Nancy Gow in Cronulla, New South Wales, the daughter of Peter Gow a former club president of Sydney rugby league club the Cronulla Sharks.[3] She is the eldest of four children; the Australian celebrity Mimi Macpherson is her sister. Her parents divorced when she was fourteen, and her mother later married Neil MacPherson. MacPherson then changed her last name to her stepfather's. She studied law for one year at the University of Sydney.
Rise to fame
While on holiday in Tasmania, Macpherson was discovered by Francis Grill and signed to Click Model Management. Macpherson became an international star through her appearance in Elle magazine. She appeared in every issue for six straight years. During this time she married (at age 21) Elle creative manager Gilles Bensimon. Eventually she gained even more exposure through Sports Illustrated magazine’s annual swimsuit issue. She appeared on the cover a record five times, (1986, 1987, 1988, 1994 and 2006). Rising in popularity, her exceptional body measurements (36-25-35) were the reasons for her nickname "The Body"—a tag that was to become her brand. She also released a series of successful calendars and modeled for lingerie giant Victoria's Secret.
By 1986, her popularity had increased sufficiently for Time magazine to run a cover entitled “The Big Elle”. The Australian government offered her a post on the tourist commission as an unofficial ambassador.
On 26 April 1999, the post office of Antigua and Barbuda issued a sheetlet of eight different $1.20 postage stamps with images of Elle Macpherson (Scott #2241) — the first time that any post office had issued stamps to honour a Super Model.[4]
Acting career
Macpherson made her movie debut playing an artist's model in the 1994 Sirens, which starred Hugh Grant, Sam Neill, Tara Fitzgerald, Kate Fischer and co-starred Portia de Rossi, as another model. Macpherson gained 9 kilograms (20 lbs.) and her breasts grew to 37D.[5] She surprised fans and critics by appearing unabashedly in numerous nude scenes, earning her top billing for the film above more established actors (in fact, all the female characters in the movie appeared nude at least once).
Soon after Sirens, Macpherson appeared nude in Playboy magazine. She chose for the pictures to be published in all countries except Australia, as she didn't want her parents to see them. At the time she posed for Playboy, Australian magazines Women's Day and New Idea published shots from the shoot. They were also featured on current affairs programs A Current Affair and 60 Minutes. Macpherson also published two calendars in which she appeared in see-through tops.
In 1999, Macpherson appeared in five episodes of the United States sitcom Friends as Joey's roommate and girlfriend, Janine Lecroix. (The actress had been named in an earlier season as someone Chandler would picture during sex.) Macpherson went on to film Batman & Robin with George Clooney, Jane Eyre with William Hurt and has also appeared alongside Ben Stiller and Sarah Jessica Parker in If Lucy Fell. Her most controversial acting to date is the Showtime Cable Network miniseries A Girl Thing. In it she plays a woman experimenting with bi-sexuality. Macpherson appears in several nude love scenes with co-star Kate Capshaw.
Extortion attempt
On July 12 and 23 of 1997, William Ryan Holt and Michael Mischler burgled Macpherson's Los Angeles home while she was away on business in Chicago. The pair stole an estimated $100,000 worth of jewelery, $6,000 in cash and 15 nude photographs.
Shortly after the burglaries, Macpherson was contacted by telephone and by mail from someone who threatened to release the photos on the Internet if she did not give them $60,000. Macpherson called the police, who set up a sting operation. After the pair realized that law enforcement had been called, they increased their demand by an additional $20,000. The duo was arrested on August 4, 1997.
Mischler, 29, was charged with two counts of burglary and six counts of extortion. He eventually pled guilty to one count of attempted extortion and one count of burglary. He received a six year, eight month sentence.
Holt, 26, a former Air Force service member and a military inmate on parole, was charged with two counts of extortion. He eventually pled guilty to one count of extortion and was sentenced to one year in jail. After completing his sentence in the Macpherson case, he was returned to military custody where he served out the remainder of his military sentence at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Personal life
Macpherson married Gilles Bensimon in 1985, but the couple divorced as Macpherson's career escalated in 1989. She was then rumoured to be dating comedian Norm Macdonald, around the time he was promoting the movie Dirty Work.
Macpherson has two sons with long term boyfriend Arpad Busson: Arpad Flynn Alexander Busson(1998) and Aurelius Cy Andrea Busson(Feb 03); known as Flynn and Cy respectively. Busson is a wealthy Swiss/French financier worth roughly $100,000,000 (USD)[citation needed]. The couple got engaged on the announcement of Macpherson's second pregnancy in August 2002. But Aurelius Cy's birth in February 2003 led to tensions, with Macpherson booking herself into Arizona's exclusive Meadows Institute [6], where she was treated for exhaustion and post natal depression[7][8]. The couple parted in July 2005 as, according to Macpherson, Busson was so devout a Catholic he decided he could not marry a divorcée, despite having two children with her out of wedlock and in spite of Macpherson herself being Catholic.
Love reportedly struck again for the Australian supermodel in November, 2006, when she started dating British actor Ray Fearon. But their love story was short-lived, with the couple splitting in April, 2007. Mcpherson and Fearon always maintained they were "just friends".
The Hollywood rumour mill went into overdrive again in February 2008, with reports that Mcpherson, 44, had begun seeing art curator Vito Schnabel – the 21-year-old son of Oscar-nominated director and artist Julian Schnabel [9]. Macpherson and Schnabel first hit the celebrity radar a month earlier, when London paparazzi caught the unlikely couple at 1am as they sat chatting together inside her luxury car.
The London-based fashion entrepreneur is also rumoured to have dated the late Michael Hutchence, Australian restaurateur David Evans[10] and real-estate developer John Hitchcox [11].
Name
Macpherson's last name is often printed as "MacPherson" and sometimes as "McPherson", but these appear to be incorrect. Sources which can be expected to be reliable, such as Playboy magazine (vol. 41, no. 5, May 1994), and the website for Macpherson's official lingerie line,[12] consistently print the name as "Macpherson".
Other business endeavours
Elle Macpherson launched her own lingerie line called "Intimates" in 2000. Since then, it became very successful in the United Kingdom and in her native Australia. The lingerie was also modelled by the top twelve in America's Next Top Model Cycle 10. The lingerie is sold across the world and in Australia in department stores such as Myer and David Jones, internet retailers such as Zodee, and specialist retailers such as Mary Holland.
The surfwear company Hot Tuna appointed Macpherson in 2006 as Executive Director to their board.[13]
In 2008, Macpherson has signed up as a global brand spokesperson for cosmetics manufacturer Revlon and will feature in print and TV advertising campaigns.[14]
Other
She is named in a Seinfeld episode in which Kramer goes to the Cayman Islands and allegedly meets Elle Macpherson, attends a nudist beach, and plays "naked backgammon" with her.[15]
On the Friday Night Project, Macpherson claimed that before she guest starred on Friends in 1999 and early 2000, she had never heard of the show before. When asked if this was true, she said: "All I knew was that Jennifer Aniston was going out with Brad Pitt and I thought, This is my chance [to meet him]!"
Filmography
| Year | Film |
|---|---|
| 1990 | Alice |
| 1994 | Sirens |
| 1996 | Jane Eyre |
| If Lucy Fell | |
| The Mirror Has Two Faces | |
| 1997 | Batman & Robin |
| The Edge | |
| 2001 | A Girl Thing |
Further reading
- Celebrity1000.com -- profile for Elle MacPherson[sic]
- SouthCoast Today, 24 July 1997, "Elle Macpherson says she was the victim of burglary..."
- SouthCoast Today, 6 Dec. 1997, "Two men pleaded guilty..."
- The Smoking Gun
- Elle is also a Patron for NACOA, the National Association for Children of Alcoholics.
References
- ^ "Profile of Elle MacPherson[sic]". fashionmodeldirectory.com. Retrieved 2007-03-06.
- ^ "Profile of Elle MacPherson[sic]". fashionmodeldirectory.com. Retrieved 2007-03-06.
- ^ Elle Macpherson Biography (1963?-)
- ^ "Heidi Klum & Elle Macpherson: Supermodels on Postage Stamps". The Journal of Stamps, Coins & Collectibles, vol.I, no.I. Summer 2003. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
- ^ Elle Macpherson - Biography
- ^ The Meadows
- ^ Supermodel denies there's anyone else after split with Busson - People
- ^ Elle talks to Vogue about post natal depression
- ^ Mcpherson's hot new toy boy. NEWS.com.au. Retrieved on Feb 6, 2008
- ^ Elle is dating Australian restaurateur David Evans
- ^ Elle is dating John Hitchcox
- ^ Elle
- ^ "Appointment of Elle Macpherson as Executive Director". Press release. Hot Tuna. 10 July 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
- ^ Dunn, Emily (28 March 2008). "Elle Macpherson: Revlon's new face". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ KRAMER: I was on the next blanket from Elle McPherson[sic], Seinfeld, episode 32, The Suicide, 29 January 1992