Claudia Schiffer

Early life

Claudia Schiffer was born in Rheinberg, a small town 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) northwest of Duisburg, on 25 August 1970 to Gudrun and Heinz Schiffer, a lawyer. She has two brothers, Stefan and Andreas, and one sister, Ann Carolin (born 1975). Schiffer is fluent in three languages – German, English and French.

Modeling

Schiffer originally aspired to become a lawyer and used to work in her father's law firm. In October 1987, at age 17, she was spotted in a nightclub in Düsseldorf by Michel Levaton, the head of Metropolitan Model Agency, and was signed to the agency as a model. Shortly after this, she met Patrick Lafontaine at a beach resort, who then saw her connected with Elite Model Management. After leaving high school, Schiffer flew to Paris for a trial photo shoot, and subsequently appeared on the cover of Elle.

In the early 1990s, she starred in campaigns for Guess?. Guess? co-founder Paul Marciano said in E! Forbes Top 15 Supermodel Beauties Who Made Bank, "Guess? name became really much more known around the world because [of] Claudia". After several other magazine appearances including the cover of British Vogue, shot by Herb Ritts, Schiffer was selected by Karl Lagerfeld to become the new face of Chanel. In May 1997, Schiffer was featured on the cover and in the pictorial of Playboy.

Schiffer appeared on the November 1999 millennium cover of Vogue as one of the "Modern Muses". Named one of the most beautiful women in the world, her ability to appeal to a global audience assured an internationally successful career spanning over 25 years. Other magazines Schiffer has appeared on the covers of include Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, People, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Cosmopolitan and Time. Schiffer has walked in fashion shows for numerous fashion houses, including Versace, Karl Lagerfeld, Chloé, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Fendi, Michael Kors, Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren, Balmain, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Valentino.

She has appeared in advertising campaigns for Chanel, Versace, Balmain, Giorgio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, Dom Pérignon, Alberta Ferretti, Bulgari, Chloé, Escada, Blumarine, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Max Mara, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren, Emporio Armani, Liz Claiborne, Prada, Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Jacobs, Guess?, Salvatore Ferragamo, Neiman Marcus, Gap, Dillard's, Saks Fifth Avenue, L'Oréal, Revlon, Intergaz and Pepsi.

As well as endorsing luxury brands, Schiffer has appeared as the face of high street retailers including Mango and Accessorize, and had her ears pierced for the first time specially for the 2006 Autumn/Winter Accessorize campaign. From her appearances in a 1998 Citroën advertisement she allegedly earned £3 million. Schiffer still holds a contract with L'Oréal and is one of their longest standing ambassadors.

Schiffer was a judge on Fashion Fringe in 2011. In 2012, she posed for Guess? again, marking the brand's 30th anniversary.

Designing

Schiffer launched her eponymous cashmere collection during Paris Fashion Week in March 2011. The Autumn–Winter 2011 season saw her fashion design debut and was followed by a Spring–Summer 2012 collection.

Acting and media

Schiffer made her film debut in the children's movie Richie Rich (1994), and then starred opposite Dennis Hopper and Matthew Modine in The Blackout (1997). She then went on to appear in Friends & Lovers, Black and White (both 1999), In Pursuit, Life Without Dick (both 2001), and Love Actually (2003) in a semi-cameo role. Films in which Schiffer has made cameo appearances include Ben Stiller's Zoolander (2001).

Schiffer has appeared on several talk shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Jonathan Ross Show, and sitcoms Dharma & Greg and Arrested Development. She made a cameo appearance in the music video for Bon Jovi's "Say It Isn't So" in 2000, and appeared in the music video for Comic Relief's 2001 charity single, Westlife's "Uptown Girl".

Charity work

Schiffer began her involvement with UNICEF by becoming a member of the Arts & Entertainment Support Committee, and is currently a UK Goodwill Ambassador for the organization. Schiffer was also a spokesman for Make Poverty History, and appeared in their "Click" campaign. In July 2005, she appeared as a presenter at both the Berlin and Edinburgh Live 8 concerts.

Other work

Schiffer has released four exercise videos, entitled Claudia Schiffer's Perfectly Fit, which reached the best seller list. Schiffer has hosted the French Fashion Awards and the World Music Awards in Monaco.

Along with fellow models Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, and Elle Macpherson, Schiffer was joint owner of a chain of restaurants called the Fashion Café in 1995. Schiffer helped present and carry the trophy with Pelé during the opening ceremonies at the 2006 World Cup. She also presented Prince William with a polo trophy in 2002.

Personal life

In 1993, at a Berlin celebrity gala, Schiffer met magician David Copperfield when he brought her on stage to participate in a mind reading act and in his flying illusion, and they became engaged in January 1994. During this engagement, Schiffer sometimes appeared on stage with Copperfield to act as his special guest assistant in illusions including being levitated, guillotined and sawn in half. She also appeared alongside Copperfield in David Copperfield: 15 Years of Magic, a 1994 documentary in which she played the role of a reporter interviewing him, and at the end of which they reprised their performance of the flying illusion. In September 1999, they announced they had ended their relationship, citing work schedules.

In 1997, Copperfield and Schiffer both sued Paris Match after the magazine claimed their relationship was a sham, that Schiffer "[was] paid for pretending to be Copperfield's fiancée and [didn't] even like him". In 1999, Schiffer won an undisclosed sum and a retraction from Paris Match when a French court ruled that the magazine's story was false. Copperfield's publicist confirmed that while Schiffer had a contract to appear in the audience at Copperfield's show in Berlin where they met, she was not under contract to be his "consort".

Following her break-up with Copperfield, Schiffer had a short relationship with art dealer and Green Shield Stamps heir Tim Jefferies until 2000. On 25 May 2002, she married film director Matthew Vaughn in Suffolk. Schiffer and Vaughn have three children: son Caspar Matthew (born 30 January 2003) and daughters Clementine Poppy (born 11 November 2004) and Cosima Violet (born 14 May 2010).

In 2002, an Italian kitchen porter was arrested after making nine visits to Schiffer's £5 million Coldham Hall mansion near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, attempting to see her. Charges against him were dropped however, as he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. He believed that the Pope had told him to marry Schiffer. In 2004, a Canadian man was accused of harassing Schiffer, also at her mansion in Suffolk. He also repeatedly left letters at her home.

In 2006, Schiffer and her husband were twice spoken to by policemen from the local Suffolk force after a number of incidents involving their two dogs, an Irish wolfhound and a German shepherd, and local people using the public footpath across the grounds of their Coldham Hall home. These included severely mauling a Jack Russell being walked on the footpath, chasing deer on the estate, intimidating people using the footpath, and biting one of the local postmen.