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Yasmin Le Bon was born Yasamin Parvaneh on October 29, 1964 and grew up in Oxford, England. She was the second-born daughter to her Iranian father and British mother. ٍAs a child, she was strong-willed and determined, but also very shy until she was exposed to drama classes. Yasmin was so introverted she was too scared of boys to date in high school. Her two goals in life were to travel and learn as much as she could.  

When she was 17, a modeling scout discovered her at a clothing store where she worked. She began her career as a hand model and then moved on to other small advertisements, like cars and vacuums. She appeared in a few fashion shows and competed in local beauty contests.

At that point in her life, her friends and family were concerned that she was not ambitious enough, and suggested she enter into modeling as a career. She was soon working steadily.  

Yasmin's dark, mysterious looks attracted people worldwide. She was surprised that a darker complected woman was able to earn a living as a model. She had to struggle against the homogenous 80s trend of blonde, big busted women in the modeling industry. She was not given cover jobs, especially in America. Perhaps it was because she did not resemble all the other girls that her exotic beauty stood out and intrigued the world. But her gorgeous ethnic looks that held her back in the 80s drove her to become one of the most highly paid models in the world and maintain superstar staying power.

When Duran Duran lead singer Simon Le Bon saw her photos, he found her number through a fellow model contact and called her. Thinking it was a prank, she told him she would rather date Rod Stewart and hung up on him. He sent her roses for a week and insisted they go out. “It was a really rock star thing to do,” said Simon. Finally, she gave in, and fell in love at first sight. She said she knew immediately she was going to spend the rest of her life with him. 

It is said that Simon broke off the relationship after two weeks because she would not sleep with him. The couple did not meet again for another year, when they ran into each other in Paris and became inseparable, despite their hectic rock star and supermodel schedules. She rushed to meet him when his boat capsized and he almost died in 1985.

They married in a small, private, 15-minute wedding, saying they did not like the pretentious production of big public weddings, “like Madonna’s.” She wore gray and he had spiked hair in the ceremony. She was immediately inundated with mail from jealous Duran Duran fans. The couple honeymooned in Scotland and the south France.

Yasmin signed on with Elle in New York and was leading a chaotic schedule of work for Calvin Klein, Christian Dior and Karl Lagerfeld. She was popping up on covers everywhere, including America. Her first cover in the United States was Vogue. She was known as one of the most in-demand models in the world.

Yasmin took breaks from modeling after the births of each of her three daughters, Amber Rose Tamara (15), Saffron Sahara, (13) and Tallulah Pine,(10), but always returned.

Although she was becoming very successful, Yasmin was always annoyed and disgusted with the commercialism and pretention of the fashion industry, which she said sought to make massive profits at any cost. She was growing increasingly exhausted and fed up. She decided to leave the fashion industry when she and Simon were at the Fashion Aid benefit in New York to raise money for starving people in Africa. They were appalled by the ruthless competition at the charity event. Soon after she parted with the fashion industry, she decided to stop modeling all together, in spite of her peak demand.

She struggled through two miscarriages, one while Simon was on a boat race, and returned to modeling to get her mind off of the traumatic events. She was aslo motivated by the generous salary. Yasmin had no trouble finding work.

The third time she became pregnant she continued to work as one of the highest paid models in the world. She said she knew this pregnancy would work out, and was not worried. Her first girl was born with a notable head of dark Persian hair. Photographers and fans swarmed the hospital when she and Simon were leaving with their new baby.

Simon’s mother came to live with them to take care of the baby. Yasmin returned to work less than two months after her daughter’s birth, saying she had to pay bills. She has made an effort to provide her children with creative toys and surround them with music all their lives.

Yasmin had nude photographs of herself taken for a Friends of the Earth auction when she was pregnant with her second daughter. Her husband was the top bidder. She also traveled to the rainforests of Malaysia with Friends of the Earth to publicly discourage the logging and purchase of tropical hardwood. Yasmin is also a campaigner against breast cancer, a disease that claimed the life of her mother in 2001.

Yasmin walked in six fashion shows during London Fashion week, as well as in Paris and New York soon after she gave birth to her third daughter. She is still active and in demand in the modeling industry. She has resiliently seized the opportunities the business offered her, using it to bounce back from the emotional difficulties of miscarriages and loneliness from a rock star husband when they both traveled the world. “They’ll have to bury me before I give up,” said Yasmin, who is still modeling bikinis in her late thirties.

For more information go to Yasmin Le Bon:  The Unofficial Site

this article borrowed from http://www.irandokht.com

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