Model Nearly Takes Her Own Life
By Sarah Stefanson May 17, 2010
Photo: Georges Biard, Wikimedia Commons
Successful fashion models are often the envy of women around the world who covet their beauty, money and lifestyle. But the truth behind the glamorous images often reveals lives full of stress, confusion and depression.
On the afternoon of Sunday, May 9, 2010, 30-year-old French model, Noemie Lenoir, was found by a dog walker in a wooded area near a Paris suburb, unconscious and near death. Lenoir had consumed a dangerous combination of pills and alcohol while at the nearby £1 million house owned by her on-again off-again boyfriend, ex-Chelsea footballer, Claude Makelele. Lenoir had phoned emergency services from the house earlier in the day, but had then made a second call cancelling her request for an ambulance. She was rushed to the Saint-Germain-en-Laye hospital, where she spent a week recovering before being released to return home with her family.
Lenoir, who has been modelling since the age of 16, is the former face of British retail chain, Marks & Spenser. She has also appeared in major advertising campaigns for the GAP, L’Oreal, Next and French Victoria’s Secret, as well as being featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Lenoir’s agency, Elite Paris, is expected to continue working with her once she is fully recovered.
Relationship troubles with both Makelele and another boyfriend, multi-millionaire, Carl Hirschmann, are being blamed for the model’s suicide attempt.
Hirschmann has been accused of plying young models with alcohol in order to coerce them into participating in orgies and other sex acts, which he allegedly videotaped and used as blackmail material afterward. He is also accused of forcing someone to have sex against her will and having sex with a minor. Hirschmann denies the allegations and is presently compelled by the terms of his bail to remain in Switzerland where the crimes are said to have occurred.
Makelele, the other man in Lenoir’s life, has also been entangled in a sex conspiracy in the last several months. Makelele was questioned as a witness to the alleged rape of a young woman at the Ritz Hotel in Paris last summer. A close friend of Makelele’s was accused of using champagne laced with the ‘date rape drug,’ GHB, to incapacitate the woman before sexually attacking her.
Lenoir is certainly not the first successful fashion model to succumb to the pressures of the industry and the lifestyle of a model.
South Korean model, Daul Kim hanged herself in her Paris apartment in November of 2009. She was 20 years old. Kim’s appearances in Korean Vogue had brought her to the attention of some of the fashion world’s most influential people, including Chanel Creative Director, Karl Lagerfeld, who cast her in the majority of his shows since 2007. She had often written of the pressures of the modelling industry on her personal blog, saying she was depressed, lonely and overworked.
In June of 2008, another up-and-coming model, Ruslana Korshunova of Kazakhstan, committed suicide by jumping from the balcony of her ninth floor apartment in Manhattan’s Financial District. Although she had just returned from a successful modelling gig in Paris and was newly in love with boyfriend, Mark Kaminsky, a luxury car exporter, Korshunova had recently expressed a feeling of being lost on a social networking site and had made it clear to loved ones that she wished to leave the modelling industry.
Lenoir continues to recover at an undisclosed location. Makelele, the father of her five-year-old son, Keylan, says he is spending time with her and trying to keep their family strong. He denies that he had any part in the events leading up to her suicide attempt, though there has been speculation that a fight occurred between the two in the hours before Lenoir was found. Makelele often saw other women during his relationship with Lenoir, but he insists that he never intentionally did anything to upset her.
Regardless of Makelele’s intentions, it seems likely that Lenoir’s tumultuous relationships with he and Hirschmann played a large part in pushing the beautiful model to try to take her own life. Despite a flourishing career and the money and luxury that came with it, Lenoir was traumatized by personal issues that drove her to use drugs and alcohol in an attempt to cope with her situation. Luckily, she now has a second chance to deal with her relationship troubles, be a mom to her little boy and continue her life as a model.
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Submitted on May 17, 2010 in Industry News.
Sarah is our Western Canadian correspondent. She recently left a long-standing position as editor and writer for TheSoko.com, DriverSense.com & LiveDress.com to focus on book and novel writing. Sarah continues contribute weekly articles to AskMen.ca and Models & Moguls. Sarah thinks she might have been a model if it weren’t for the blessing of Slavic hips and thighs.
Sarah Stefanson has contributed 64 articles to Models & Moguls.
