Rags to riches? A modern-day Cinderella? When people discuss Natalia Vodianova, these phrases get thrown around a lot. It is true that Natalia had a poor upbringing, but as she puts it, “I know some people would have wanted to kill themselves, but I thought my childhood was happy. My mother worked nearly 24 hours a day, and I realize things were difficult, but I managed to find a lot of light there. I had this weird knowledge that, one day, things would be good.”

Born in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) in February 1982, Natalia grew up in a poor district of the city with her mother and two half-sisters, one of whom has cerebral palsy. From the age of 11, Natalia helped her mother sell fruit on the street, and later set up her own fruit stand with a friend to help keep her family out of poverty.

Natalia explains, “Finding out I was pretty was a very nice realization.” At age 15, she enrolled in a modeling academy, where she was told she needed to learn English to succeed. Incredibly, she mastered the language in just three months. At age 17, Natalia moved to Paris and signed with Viva Model Management Paris, where she was picked out of the crowd at a runway show by a photographer.

Natalia has since achieved tremendous success as a runway, editorial, and advertising-campaign model. Her naturally pretty face is almost childlike, with wide, big eyes and a heart shape. She has walked in hundreds of shows for the world’s top designers’ ready-to-wear and couture collections, and has appeared in editorial spreads in fashion magazines throughout the world. Her campaigns have included Calvin Klein, Calvin Klein’s Euphoria Blossom fragrance, Choice by Calvin Klein Underwear, Roberto Cavalli, Louis Vuitton, L’Oréal, David Yurman, Marc Jacobs, Pepe Jeans, Diane von Fürstenberg, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Moschino, and Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti.

Natalia first appeared on the cover of the September 2005 edition of Vogue, along with eight other models, and then appeared as the solo cover subject for the July 2007 issue. She has since appeared in Vogue China, Vogue Germany, Vogue Greece, Vogue Italy, Vogue Japan, Vogue Korea, Vogue Mexico, Vogue Russia, British Vogue, W, Teen Vogue, i-D, GQ, DT, Chic, Telva, Photo, Elle, and Marie Claire.

Forbes estimates that Natalia earned $4.5 million between August 2006 and July 2007, and $4.8 million  between May 2007 and April 2008, making her the seventh-highest-earning model worldwide during both time periods.

On September 1, 2002, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Natalia married The Honorable Justin Trevor Berkeley Portman, a British real estate heir and half-brother of the 10th Viscount Portman. The couple have three children: Lucas Alexander, born on December 22, 2001; Neva, born on March 24, 2006; and Viktor, born on September 13, 2007.

“Since then, my life has been one of immeasurable goodness—almost too good to be true. I was working until I was seven months pregnant with Lucas. I shot the Marc Jacobs campaign with my belly out and everyone loved it, and then, because I was so young, I just pinged back. Actually, I think my figure was better after I gave birth. I got a waist and hips and breasts, and I felt very rejuvenated by this new life. Lucas was born in England, but in two and a half weeks, we were on the plane to New York. Then my life went in a direction I didn’t expect. I landed the Calvin Klein and L’Oréal contracts, and life was so manic I couldn’t think of another child. So we waited a few years before having Neva.... When Viktor was born in September 2007, I knew how to handle myself, and walked down the catwalk at the Louis Vuitton show weeks later.”

In spring 2009, Natalia signed a three-year agreement to be a brand ambassador for the French lingerie company Etam, for whom she will design a lingerie collection each season during the term of the agreement. The collections will be marketed under the brand Natalia pour Etam.

She is a founder and the president of the Naked Heart Foundation, a philanthropy that strives to provide every child living in urban Russia with a safe and inspiring environment in which to play. She started the organization, she says, because “when Lucas was younger, we used to live next to a playground. It is so lovely to take your child to play and see them get exhausted, in a happy way, and then go to sleep. Yet when I took Lucas back to Russia where my friends and cousins have children, there is not one place to go. So I started to dream of playgrounds.”

Natalia says about her life, “I have done it. I have everything I want. I have made enough money to secure my family, and that is all I care about.” Let’s hope Natalia finds new challenges, as we hope to see her lovely face around for years to come.