Elle Macpherson

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Elle Macpherson
Birth name	Eleanor Nancy Gow
Date of birth	29 March 1964 (1964-03-29) (age 44)
Place of birth	Cronulla, New South Wales, Australia
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Hair color	light brown
Eye color	brown
Measurements	36C-25-35[1]
Spouse(s)	Gilles Bensimon (1985 - 1989) (divorced) Arpad Busson (2002 - 2005) (partner)
Official website

Elle Macpherson (pronounced /ˈɛl məkˈfɝːsən/; born 29 March 1964) is an Australian model, actress, and businesswoman. She is known for her six cover appearances on Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue in the USA in the 1980s, the 1990s and once in the 2000s. Nicknamed “The Body”, she is 6'0 (1.83 m) tall. According to Forbes, she is worth around £60 million.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Macpherson was born Eleanor Nancy Gow in Cronulla, New South Wales, the daughter of Peter Gow, a former president of Sydney rugby league club, the Cronulla Sharks, but grew up in Killara, a suburb of Sydney and attended Killara High School.^[2] She is the eldest of four children; the Australian celebrity Mimi Macpherson is her sister. Her parents divorced when she was 14, and her mother later married Neil MacPherson. MacPherson then changed her surname to her stepfather's. She studied law for one year at the University of Sydney.

[edit] Rise to fame

At 17, on holiday in the United States, Macpherson was discovered by Francis Grill and signed to Click Model Management. Macpherson became a star through appearances in Elle. She appeared in every issue for six years. During this time she married (at 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). Her 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.

In 1986 a Time cover was entitled “The Big Elle”. The Australian government offered her a post on the tourist commission as an unofficial ambassador.

On 26 April 2000, Antigua and Barbuda issued eight $1.20 postage stamps with images of Macpherson (Scott #2241) — the first time that any post office had issued stamps to honour a Super Model.^[3]

In 2001, along with fellow model Naomi Campbell, Elle was the master of ceremony of Miss Universe 2001.

[edit] Modeling career

After she was signed to Click Model Management, Macpherson appeared for the first time in Australian TV advertisements. She modelled for Sports Illustrated, Victoria's Secret, Time, Elle, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and Playboy. She walked runways for Versace, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Prada and others. She was owner of the Fashion Café with fellow models Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer.

In 2008, Macpherson signed for cosmetics manufacturer Revlon in print and TV advertising.^[4]

She is now signed to New York Model Management.^[5]

[edit] 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 9kg (20lb) and her breasts grew to 37D.^[6] She appeared in numerous nude scenes.

Soon after Sirens, Macpherson appeared nude in Playboy. She allowed the pictures to be published in all countries except Australia, as she didn't want her parents to see them. 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 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 is the Showtime cable network miniseries A Girl Thing in which she plays a woman experimenting with bisexuality. Macpherson appears in nude love scenes with Kate Capshaw.

[edit] Business endeavours

Macpherson launched her lingerie line, Intimates, in 1990. It was modelled by the top 12 in America's Next Top Model Cycle 10. In 2002, Macpherson launched her fragrance "The Body, Body Lotion". The surfwear company Hot Tuna appointed Macpherson executive directorin 2006 .^[7]

[edit] Art

In February 2008, Macpherson commissioned controversial English artist Stella Vine to create a portrait of herself^[8] called Elle In The Autumn, which depicts the supermodel with autumn leaves around her.^[9] The painting was later exhibited at an event organised by Macpherson in London in association with her Intimates lingerie line.^[10] Macpherson further proved herself as a patron of the arts having "agreed to speak at a gala fundraiser for the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London at the end of the month, where she will entertain punters who have paid £300 a head to hear about her favourite possession."^[11]

[edit] Extortion attempt

On 12 and 23 July 1997, William Ryan Holt and Michael Mischler burgled Macpherson's Los Angeles home while she was on business in Chicago. The pair stole an estimated $100,000 worth of jewelery, $6,000 in cash and 15 nude photographs. Macpherson was telephoned by the thief, who threatened to publish the photos on the Internet if she did not give $60,000. Police set up a sting operation. The thieves increased their demand by $20,000. The two were arrested on 4 August 1997.

Mischler, 29, admitted one count of attempted extortion and one count of burglary. He received a six year, eight month sentence. Holt, 26, a former Air Force serviceman and a military inmate on parole, admitted one count of extortion and was sentenced to a year in jail. After completing his sentence, he served the remainder of his military sentence at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

[edit] Personal life

Macpherson married Gilles Bensimon in 1985, but the couple divorced as Macpherson's career escalated in 1989. She was rumoured to be dating comedian Norm Macdonald, around the time he was promoting the movie Dirty Work.

Macpherson has two sons with Swiss/French financier Arpad Busson: Arpad Flynn Alexander Busson (born 14 February 1998) and Aurelius Cy Andrea Busson (born 4 February 2003); known as Flynn and Cy. The couple got engaged on the announcement of Macpherson's second pregnancy in August 2002. Aurelius Cy's birth led to tensions, with Macpherson booking herself into Arizona's Meadows Institute,^[12] where she was treated for exhaustion and post natal depression.^[13][14] The couple parted in July 2005.

In November, 2006, she started dating British actor Ray Fearon. They split in April, 2007. Macpherson and Fearon maintained they were "just friends".

In February 2008 there were reports that Macpherson, then 44, was seeing art curator Vito Schnabel, 21-year-old son of director and artist Julian Schnabel.^[15] Macpherson London paparazzi caught the couple at 1am inside her car.

Billy Joel mentioned in a television interview that he had dated Macpherson in the 1980s, presumably prior to his marriage to Christie Brinkley. She is also rumoured to have dated Michael Hutchence, Australian restaurateur David Evans^[16] and real-estate developer John Hitchcox.^[17]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] 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.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Elle Macpherson at the Internet Movie Database
• Elle MacPherson^[sic] in the Fashion Model Directory
• Elle Macpherson interview by Harper's BAZAAR Australia (Oct 07)
• Elle Macpherson on AskMen.com
• Elle Macpherson interviewed by Ginny Dougary (2005)
• Elle MacPherson^[sic] at TV.com
• Elle MacPherson^sic]