Petra Nemcova

Petra Němcová (IPA: [ˈɲɛmtsovaː], pronounced NYEMtzovah; born 24 June 1979 in Karviná, Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic) is a model, television host, author, and philanthropist. She is also the founder and president of Happy Hearts Fund. In December 2004, she was injured in Thailand by a tsunami resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake; her then-fiancé, photographer Simon Atlee, was killed in the tsunami.

Her father was a mason and her mother, a teacher. She became a model after being spotted at the age of 16 during a national talent search.[1]
Němcová on 2003 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover

She was featured on the cover of the 2003 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue but appeared also in the editions of 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.[2] She has also modeled for Victoria's Secret, and for many other companies in the women's clothing market. In addition to working with world class photographers on her Sports Illustrated shoots, she was the object/subject of Joanne Gair's body painting work.[3] On 3 June 2004, she was one of the telecast judges during the 53rd annual Miss Universe competition in Quito, Ecuador.

[edit] The 2004 tsunami

During the Indian Ocean earthquake of 26 December 2004, Němcová was at the Khao Lak resort in Thailand with her main photographer and fiancé, Simon Atlee when the tsunami struck where they were staying. Initially, Atlee was presumed missing, but his body was found and identified on 3 March 2005, on the shores of Sumatra (near the epicenter of the earthquake that caused the Tsunami).

Atlee drowned, and Němcová suffered a broken pelvis and serious internal injuries, but she managed to hold onto the top of a palm tree, reportedly for eight hours, until she was rescued by Thai civilians and airlifted to an inland hospital nearby.[4] Petra spent three weeks in a Thai hospital, and then flew home to the Czech Republic, where she spent an additional three weeks in the hospital. Atlee's body was not found until over two months after the tsunami. Němcová's first interview after her near-death experience was with Diane Sawyer on ABC's Primetime Live, on 9 March 2005. She has also spoken of her experiences on the Larry King Live program on CNN.

Happy Hearts Fund

In 2005, Němcová started The Happy Hearts Fund, a charitable organization and campaign formed after her survival and recovery from the Tsunami of 2004. It aims to advocate and provide for disadvantaged youngsters who have had to endure hardship and who are not receiving the essential and sustainable help they need for healthy childhood development. It actively partners with charities, donors and foundations committed to providing immediate, tangible assistance for children.[5][6]

Moving on

In 2008 she visited Peru for a good reason,support to the victims of the 2007 Peru earthquake

Glamour magazine awarded Němcová a "Survivor Award" in 2005 for the way she picked up her life following her tsunami ordeal; her comeback being complete with her appearance in the 2006 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. She also appeared in the 2007 British FHM calendar as Miss May. She is now the host of TLC's A Model Life.

She wrote Love Always, Petra (ISBN 0446579130) published December 2005, which tells of her early life under Communist rule in Czechoslovakia, her entrance into the field of fashion and modeling, and her breakthrough into Sports Illustrated, which was her springboard to becoming a supermodel. She also tells of her life with Simon Atlee and how they fell in love and became engaged to marry.

Nemcova has also moved on romantically, briefly dating British singer James Blunt in 2006.

On 7 July 2007 she was a presenter at the American leg of Live Earth and appeared in the music video 'Misfit' by American indie group Elefant[2]. She is currently working with HP computers to produce a multi-million dollar TV and web campaign.[7]

In July 2007, Němcová became a vegan after learning about the planet's rapidly depleting fish stocks. The Czech Republic-born model gave up meat and dairy in February of that year.[8]

Also in July 2007, Němcová partnered with New York City power broker Ron Schnackenberg to form a luxury boutique real estate firm Aglow Properties, which specializes in representing high net-worth/high profile clients in a very discreet manor. Aglow Properties has been linked with several high priced New York City apartment transactions.

On 12 November 2007 Nemcova visited Haiti alongside Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean as part of a charity-sponsored event. The inauguration of a computer lab and an eatery in the slums of Port-au-Prince were funded and sponsored by Jean's Yéle Haïti foundation and Nemcova's Happy Hearts Fund.[9]

Němcová is signed to Chic Management in Sydney, Australia. Recently she traveled in Mykonos island to attend a party in honor of De Grisogono jewels and she also did a fashion shooting for the Greek edition of Hello! magazine. Nemcova is also signed to Next Models Management.

Source Wikipedia Petra Němcová

Karen Mcdougal

Karen McDougal (born March 23, 1971) is an American model and actor. She is known for her appearances in Playboy magazine as Playmate of the Month for December 1997[1] and Playmate of the Year of 1998.[3] In 2001, the readers of Playboy voted McDougal "No. 2 Sexiest Playmate of the 1990s."[4]

McDougal taught pre-kindergarten before winning a swimwear competition and beginning her career as a glamour, promotional, and swimsuit model. Since her appearances in Playboy, she has extended her career into a wide variety of appearances in mainstream media, including other magazine modeling, television commercials, and minor acting, with mixed success. She has been a successful fitness model, with multiple magazine appearances including being the first woman to appear on the cover of Men's Fitness magazine. She starred in The Arena, a direct-to-video film, and inspired the creation of a fantasy art statuette and a doll. As of 2007[update], she is pursuing work as a television host.

McDougal is a fitness enthusiast, since childhood ballet study and high school sports, and still noted for ability to perform the straddle split in modeling sessions. She is an avid motorcycle and car collector. Since her Playmate days, she has maintained a largely private social life, though in 2007 the paparazzi reported her dating actor Bruce Willis.

In 1997, McDougal tried out and won her local Venus Swimwear swimsuit competition in Michigan. Her victory caught the eye of Playboy photographer David Mecey.[4] Soon after that she was approached by Playboy for a test shoot at Playboy Studio West which she accepted.[6] Upon completing her test shoot, she was promptly selected to return for a complete photo and video shoot and chosen as Miss December 1997.[4] Her pictorial, which was shot by photographers Richard Fegley and Stephen Wayda, has a winter theme[1] and its outdoor portion was shot in the snowy fields near Park City, Utah.[8] Her video, the "Playmate Profile", was featured on Playboy TV soon after her magazine debut.[2]

In May 1998, she was announced to have been chosen by Hugh Hefner and fans as Playmate of the Year (PMOY) of 1998 at a luncheon at the Playboy Mansion.[9] As her reward, she was awarded $100,000 and a special edition silver Shelby Series 1 convertible with a customized Michigan license plate "PMOY 98".[3] In contrast to her Playmate pictorial, her PMOY pictorial in the July 1998 issue of Playboy has a tropical theme and its outdoor portion was shot at Saint Lucia.[3] According to her interview in her Playmate of the Year "Video Centerfold" which was released soon after her PMOY issue debuted, she believes her physical imperfections are her "funny" smile, her crooked pinkies which she inherited from her grandfather and her "ugly feet" which she wishes others would not look at.[5] Because of the popularity of the VH1 television series "Pop-up Video" at the time, one of the segments in her PMOY video was done as a Pop-up Video parody filled with factoids about her and Playboy.[5] During her appearance on The Magic Hour to promote her PMOY issue, McDougal demonstrated her signature pose, straddle split on TV in front of a live studio audience.[10] Playboy has continued to publish her material in Playboy Cyber Club, Playboy Special Edition publications and Playboy Videos.[11][12] In an online chat in 2002, McDougal expressed interest in posing for Playboy again if offered.[12]


Source Wikipedia Karen McDougal