Nadja Auermann

Auermann was born to 2 bankers in West Berlin, Germany, who divorced when she was young. Nonetheless, she had a happy childhood. In 1984, her older sister suggested she begin thinking about modeling in order to cash in on her legs, which were unusually long for a 13-year old. In 1989, she left school with the equivalent of a Higher School Certificate with the intention to work for a few years as a waitress while she decided what to do with her life. That was until another woman recommended she begin modeling. She arrived in Paris in 1990, unsuccessfully signing with Karins Modeling Agency in the same year. In 1991, she signed with Elite Model Management. Auermann landed modeling gigs, but it wasn't until she bleached her hair platinum blonde for a prêt-à-porter collection that her career took off. Everyone from Harper's Bazaar to Vogue came crawling, as both magazines featured portfolios on the "it" girl in modeling. By 1994, Nadja (now donning a cropped haircut) was the model for runways and magazine photo spreads. This was made clear with a 26-page Neiman Marcus shoot in Harper's Bazaar and consecutive Vogue photo shoots in 1994. She had her picture taken for French Vogue, in addition to appearing in Benetton clothing advertisements. Auermann has modeled for Versace, and she appeared in their classic ad photo in miniskirts along with Kristen McMenamy, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, and Stephanie Seymour. In the following years, she was photographed by super-shooter Ellen von Unwerth and appeared in and on the covers of numerous magazines. In 1997, she had her first child with Olaf Björn, a daughter called Cosima. Two years later, she married German actor Wolfram Grandezka. The couple welcomed their first son, Nicolas, the same year and divorced a few years later.

In recent years, Auermann launched her own perfume ("Nadja Auermann") and has begun acting, having been in two German-language films: Letztes Kapitel (2005) and Dornröschens Leiser Tod (2004). She is known throughout the world for her record-breaking long legs, which are 114cm (45") long.