Helena Christensen
Helena Christensen at the Ford and project7ten Sustainable/Green Home opening party, 16th October 2007.
Date of birth	December 25, 1968 (1968-12-25) (age 40)
Place of birth	Copenhagen, Denmark
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Hair color	Brunette
Eye color	Green
Measurements	36C, 23, 35 1/2

Helena Christensen (born December 25, 1968 in Copenhagen) is a Danish fashion model, former Victoria's Secret Angel, and beauty queen.

Early life

Christensen grew up in Denmark. Her father is Danish, and her mother is Peruvian.¹

Miss Denmark

She stepped into the limelight in 1986 by claiming the title of Miss Denmark at age 18, and representing her country at the Miss Universe pageant. She left her home soon afterwards to pursue modeling in Paris. ²

Modelling career

Christensen is considered to be one of the more prominent models of the 1990s, having appeared on many magazine covers and in fashion campaigns. She was in the Victoria's Secret catalog and in their television commercials as one of the signature Angels, along with Tyra Banks, Karen Mulder, Daniela Pestova, Rebecca Romijn, and Stephanie Seymour. She also became a spokesmodel for Revlon cosmetics.

In 1991, she starred in the music video for Chris Isaak's song "Wicked Game"³. In the video, she is depicted as Isaak's lover. Christensen was topless and Isaak was shirtless for much of the video, though her nudity is relatively concealed. It was decided that full frontal nudity would not be suitable for mainstream release. Viewers still reacted to Christensen's sexually suggestive performance, and the video was later featured on MTV's "Sexiest Video of All-Time". This video was voted #4 on VH1's "50 Sexiest Video Moments" and voted #13 on VH1's "100 Greatest Videos".

Christensen is signed to Independent Models in London and 1/One Management in New York City, 2pm Model Management in Copenhagen.³

Business

Christensen has an antiques shop in Manhattan ⁴ and sells some of her clothes in her mother's Yo-Yo Second Hand Shop in Christianshavn.

She co-founded Nylon magazine as the original creative director with American entrepreneur Mic Neumann. She has launched her own clothing line Christensen & Sigersen, with long-term friend Leif Sigersen. The pair also run Butik, a shop in New York.⁵

Christensen is also a photographer, and her photos appeared in magazines such as Marie Claire and ELLE³. Her exhibition A Quiet Story, curated by Jim Cook, premiered in Rotterdam in 2006. Chanel Tokyo's NEXUS Gallery is scheduled to mount the exhibition in 2010.^{citation needed}

Breast cancer advocate

Christensen was in Ireland to launch the second Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign which involves the sale of exclusive designer t-shirts to raise millions for Action Breast Cancer (a project of the Irish Cancer Society) and Europa Donna Ireland to help younger women with breast cancer.⁶

Personal life

Christensen lived with INXS frontman Michael Hutchence and has been romantically linked to Leonardo DiCaprio. She has one child, a son named Mingus Lucien Reedus (born October 13, 1999)⁷ with actor Norman Reedus. While maintaining careers in photography and clothing design, Christensen still remains a hands-on mother to Mingus. "He's all that matters," she says. "He's my best friend."⁸ Reedus and Christensen split in 2003. From 2004 to 2006, Christensen dated Danish rock band Grand Avenue frontman Rasmus Walter-Hansen. Christensen is currently dating Interpol frontman Paul Banks.⁹

Christensen was a good friend of actor Heath Ledger, and was actually reported to have been heading to his apartment on the day that he died. Christensen apparently tried calling Ledger, only to get his voicemail message on the answering phone.¹⁰

Helena has claimed on several occasions to be a cheese addict, admitting that: "There've been times when I've bought a whole pound of cheese and walked down the street and eaten it in one go. I think it's incredibly sensual."¹¹ Christensen declares that: "Whenever my head is like a maze, I turn to the easy things in life, the things that mean the most to me: Sex and cheese. These things are connected. Truth be told, I love all cheese: French cheese, Italian cheese, even British cheese, but Danish cheese is the greatest. I get my best nightmares after I eat Danish cheese. Actually I've seriously thought about getting a cheese tattoo. A nice Edam on my shoulder, maybe."¹²¹³

She drives a Morris Minor car at home in Monaco, and also has apartments in Copenhagen and Manhattan. Christensen is left-handed and a fan of The Smiths and R.E.M.. She is also close friends with the latter band's lead singer Michael Stipe ¹⁴ and with U2 frontman Bono. ¹⁵

References

External links

• Helena Christensen at the Internet Movie Database
• Helena Christensen at Fashion Model Directory
• HELLO! Magazine profile
• Sunday Times article
• Food Bank For New York City public service announcement
• Award acceptance speech at the Food Bank For New York City's 2008 Can-Do Awards Dinner