Renée Simonsen

Renée Toft Simonsen (born May 12, 1965 in Aarhus , Denmark ) is a supermodel of the 1980s and children's book author.

Life

Career as a model

In 1981 Simonsen accompanied a friend to a beauty contest. There the fashion editor Birte Strandgaard became aware of Simonsen and asked the photographer Leif Nygaard to take pictures of her. Simonsen took part in the Ekstra Bladet Contest and took 2nd place. Eileen Ford from the New York model agency Ford Models discovered Simonsen and was enthusiastic about her. Since Simonsen was only 16 years old at the time, she initially continued her school education. In July 1981 the first cover picture with Simonsen appeared for the Danish magazine Fotokino .

In 1982 Simonsen again took part in the Ekstra Bladets beauty pageant and won. She then represented Denmark in the Supermodel of the World beauty pageant and won the competition. The December issue of American Vogue published a 20-page fashion spread entitled “A real change of pace” with Simonsen and her roommate at the time, Talisa Soto , photographed by Andrea Blanch .

From 1983 Simonsen was featured on the covers of Vogue, Cosmopolitan , Elle and Harper's Bazaar , for example in February 1983 on the cover of French Vogue, photographed by Albert Watson . She was the cover girl for the German edition of Vogue in March, April and September.

In 1985 Simonsen met the bassist John Taylor of the pop group Duran Duran and began a relationship with the musician. She made her first experiences as an actress in the Carlo Vanzina film Sotto il vestito niente ( The Last Shot ), in which she played a psychopathic murderer. However, the film was not a success and only appeared on video in Germany.

In 1987 she made her second film, again directed by Carlo Vanzina. The comedy Via Montenapoleone with Carol Alt flopped, as did Simonsen's first film. In 1988, after separating from John Taylor, Simonsen retired to an Israeli kibbutz for three months . The following year, Simonsen declared her modeling career over and began studying psychology in Denmark. As early as 1991, Simonsen took on model contracts again and worked for Vichy , among others . In 1993 Simonsen became the face of the new advertising campaign for the L'Oréal brand Biotherm.

Career as a writer

From 1997 she worked as a fashion editor for the Danish magazine Asschenfeldts Magasin . The magazine was taken off the market after only a few issues. In 2002 Simonsen successfully completed her psychology studies, a year later she advertised the French cosmetics company Clarins and published her first children's book Karlas kabale . The second volume, Karla og Katrine, was published in 2004. After moving from Denmark to Spain, the third book, Karlas svaere valg , was published in 2005, which deals with the integration of foreigners. In the same year Simonsen published another children's book, Anthony Greenwood og den amerikanske præsident , which was nominated in 2006 for the Danish book award "Orla". Simonen's first book, Karlas kabale , was made into a film in 2007. Her first novel, Tirsdag Formiddag (Tuesday morning) was published in August 2007

family

After the failed relationship with John Taylor, she met the Danish fish exporter Kristian Sandvad in 1990. The relationship resulted in a daughter (* 1993) and a son (* 1995). At the end of 1995, Simonsen separated from Sandvad and began a relationship with the musician Thomas Helmig, whom she married in summer 2000. In 1998 their son Hugo Helmig was born.

Filmography

• 1985: Sotto il vestito niente
• 1987: Via Montenapoleone

Publications

• Karlas kabale , Børnebog, 2003
• Karla and Katrine , Børnebog, 2004
• Anthony Greenwood and the American President , Børnebog, 2005
• Karlas svære valg , Børnebog, 2005
• Karla and Jonas , Børnebog, 2006
• Den sejeste , Børnebog, 2006
• Lillebror & kysse-kvælerslangen , Børnebog, 2006
• Lillebror & Silver , Børnebog, 2006
• Karlas venindebog , 2006
• Anthony Greenwood and gidslet in Africa , Børnebog, 2007
• Tirsdag formiddag , 2007
• Kære dagbog , 2007

Web links

• Renee Toft Simonsen - Cover Girl Biography and magazine cover gallery