It would have been very easy for Natalia Vodianova take her millions and status as one of the world’s greatest supermodels and rest on it, living happily ever after with her partner and gorgeous children. But she didn’t – after only 5 years in the industry she realized that fashion was not her everything and that she had a bigger purpose than just modeling and giving to her immediate family and friends. She captured our hearts for being beautiful, but also for her philanthropy and never forgetting where she came from.
Natalia. Photo: Vogue
Natalia’s childhood wasn’t exactly easy. She grew up in a poor district of Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky), Russia, helping her mother bring up her sister with cerebral palsy and keep the family out of poverty after her father and consequent step-fathers walked out. She felt like nothing was ever going to change before she left Russia in 1999 to try her hand at modeling, which she owes to the belief and encouragement from her grandmother. The rest is well documented in the pages of the world’s glossiest magazines and biggest billboards – signed to Viva Models at the age of 17 she has since represented the likes of Guerlain, Gucci, Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton and Chanel in editorials, runway shows and advertising campaigns.
One of the highest-earning and recognizable models by the age of 21, she had achieved more success than most people could ever dream of, but by her own admission she found it almost impossible to enjoy. It seems it almost happened to easily for her – for a girl whose entire young life was spent fighting and surviving she struggled to find meaning in things. Natalia had worked hard for her success, but “œnot in a way that a scientist works for his Nobel Prize… I didn’t feel as if I’d earned it”, she says.
Natalia at the Naked Heart Foundation Gala. Photo: Buro 24/7
It was out of this need to survive for something again that her Naked Heart Foundation was born. In 2004, the Beslan tragedy at a school left more than 300 dead, including nearly 200 children. Natalia’s idea was to build a play park in Beslan as a way to help the children who survived through their psychological trauma.
“œI knew people were doing everything they could but no one was doing anything as simple as building a play area, and I knew that was what was missing most. Because as a child it was during play that I was at my happiest – those moments where you are able to forget about your reality.”
A Naked Heart Foundation Playground in Novosibirsk. Photo: Raionka
Bureaucracy meant that the park did not materialize in Beslan until much later, but Natalia stood by her idea and took the play park to her home town instead. In 2004 there were only 10 parks such as this in the whole of Russia, but since then the NHF has built 136 play parks with areas designed especially for children with physical and learning disabilities. To date, the Naked Heart Foundation has raised over €30 million and has expanded its work to include support services for families with disabled children; Natalia’s aim is to stop parents feeling that they need to give away their children due to a lack of state support. “œI want to help support the families’, she says – none of the money goes to established orphanages or institutions, it all goes to helping children with disabilities live at home, as her sister Oksana does.
Natalia and her sister Oksana (far left). Photo: The Telegraph
Becoming a mother also contributed to the creation and success of the NHF. She says “œWhen you become a mother, you think less about yourself and care more about the world… As a parent, it’s heartbreaking to see other children suffering”. Her children’s lives are “˜so different’ from her own childhood, but all Natalia wants for them is “œto be happy and to be good people, to have something they enjoy doing”. Lucas (13), Neva, (9), Viktor (7) and Maxim (1) might never’ need or lack anything, but one of Natalia’s focuses is to keep them grounded. She doesn’t want to patronize them or make them feel ashamed of their privileged life, she just wants them to realize how lucky and happy they are.
Natalia is no martyr to her own childhood and past, however:
‘I call my struggles in childhood a gift, almost, because they made me a really sensitive person towards other people’s struggles. When you are at the bottom, you find beauty in such little things, and goodness in such little gestures. When I compare any struggle today to ones that I may have had in my childhood, there is nothing that can bring me down.’
Natalia and her three children. Photo: Starkiddo
So how does she manage it all, being a mother, partner, supermodel and philanthropist all at once? “œI have support everywhere!” she says. Luckily her schedule is flexible and by her own admission she is “œnot running a billion-dollar company” so she tries to spend as much time at home as possible. She’d love more children, but recognizes that her and partner Antoine have to be responsible to the children they already have – many of her choices in life are based on how much time she can give to them as well as her work. All Natalia hopes for is to create the type of family life that when her children are older, “œthey’ll come back with their girlfriends, their husbands and their children”.
Natalia raising money for the Foundation running the Paris Half Marathon. Photo: Getty Images
On the surface it seems as though Natalia has turned her back on the fashion industry and modeling, but she still recognises it as an important part of life and that she would not be where she was without it. Modeling has been the driving force behind her foundation, largely thanks to her friends in the industry (her annual Love Ball fundraiser provides most of the capital for the NHF). Modeling was the catalyst for all the good in her life, but in terms of what keeps her awake at night, it is her charity. When asked what she is most proud of with the Foundation, she says “œTrust… in Russia this is not a common strength. Trust is something that is really hard to obtain and very easy to lose”.
Natalia with children at one of the play parks. Photo: Naked Heart Foundation
Natalia’s belief in life has always been to “˜stand tall’. In the beginning of her modeling career, if there was something she didn’t want to do or if she didn’t like how she looked she would stand up for her values. Although this prompted serious disagreements with some industry figures’ it was also what drove her success and sums up why we find her so inspiring:
“œYou have been so beaten down by life… You have to find beauty and strength where there shouldn’t be anymore”.’
