Model Tatjana Patitz has passed away in the United States at the age of 56

DrHer agent announced that German model Tatiana Patitz died of breast cancer at the age of 56. The New York-based modeling agency had previously notified dpa of the death Hamburg Patitz was born and confirmed. Accordingly, she passed away on Wednesday morning at her adopted home in California. According to the statement, she leaves behind a son, sister and parents.

Together with colleagues like Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell, Patitz was one of the most successful supermodels of the 80’s and 90’s. She occupied the front pages of many major fashion magazines, was seen in George Michael’s famous music video for his song “Freedom” and became known above all through photographs taken by the star photographer Peter Lindbergh. US Vogue wrote that she was “the most amazingly original supermodel”. “Tatiana has always been the European icon of style — like Romy Schneider meets Monica Vitti,” Vogue president Anna Wintour was quoted as saying in a magazine article on Wednesday. “She was less visible than her peers—more mysterious, more mature, more aloof—and that had her own appeal.”

Patitz was born on March 25, 1966, to an Estonian mother and a German father Hamburg Born and raised in Sweden. As a child she was an avid racer. In the early 1980s, she participated in a beauty pageant in Sweden and won third place. However, it took a while before her career really took off — thanks mainly to photos taken by star photographer Lindbergh. “People have always told me I look special, that I don’t look like everyone else,” Patitz once told Vogue. “And that’s why I’m going to do it.”

Rumors of relationships

Patitz never saw himself as a true part of the supermodel clique. “It was never friendship, we lived very different lives,” the model once told the German news agency. Patitz moved ashore in Malibu California She also landed some movie roles. There has always been speculation about relationships with Hollywood stars and musicians like Richard Gere, Johnny Depp, Pierce Brosnan or Seal.

From a temporary marriage to a businessman, Patits gave birth to a son, Jonah, whom she once described as “the source of my happiness.” Above all because of him, she said in an interview a few years ago, she could imagine returning to Germany. “In Europe you can feel more deeply. I find Europe more authentic, and sometimes I miss that. Americans are shallower.”

However, most of the time, Patitz has tried to keep her private life out of the public eye. “When I go about my daily life, I’m completely normal,” the model once said about the dpa. “When people ask me what I do, I say I work ‘in the fashion industry.’ I don’t want all that attention. My life is so much bigger. It’s not my profession. I noticed early on where the limit was and I thought: I can’t do that now. I’m so close.” From nature, not a city person. You should be able to tell.”