Petra Nemcova is a Sports Illustrated cover girl, model, television host, author, philanthropist, and survivor. She also is the founder and president of Happy Hearts Fund, a charity she founded after losing her fiancé in the 2004 tsunami and being seriously injured herself. Petra was born on June 24, 1979, in Karviná, a small mining town in the north of Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic. It was still a Communist country then, but Petra had a happy childhood, growing up very close to her parents and her little sister, Olga. Despite limited Western influences in her country, Petra was always interested in fashion.
She used to make dresses and sew outfits for herself and her friends. When she was a 16-year-old student, her best friend entered her in a talent search for a Czech model agency. In 1996, she won the Elite Look of the Year Competition of the Czech Republic. Petra says, “It was an amazing time for me. I never expected to win, and as they announced my name, I started crying like a baby, with mascara running all down [my] face.” She then started modeling in Prague, going to jobs after school, even though it was a four-hour train journey each way.
Petra finished her education and started to model full-time, eventually moving to Paris. Her career took off quickly, and she landed campaigns for Max Factor, Lancaster, and La Perla, while at the same time doing runway shows for Valentino and Armani. In 2001, she got a call from her agent telling her to book a trip for the Sports Illustrated shooting in Italy. She says she “had no idea how big a deal it was.” More exciting jobs followed, including campaigns for Pantene and Clarins, as well as plenty of editorial work.
Petra’s first American TV appearance was on the “Late Late Show” with Craig Kilborn, where the host predicted that she would make the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit edition in 2003. He was right. She was featured on the cover of that issue and also appeared in the 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2006 editions.In addition to her work for SI, Petra has graced the pages of Elle, Stuff, Harper’s Bazaar, and the French magazine Madame Figaro. She also has modeled for Victoria’s Secret and Cartier. When the Indian Ocean earthquake struck on December 26, 2004, Petra was at the Khao Lak resort in Thailand with her fiancé, photographer Simon Atlee.
When the tsunami hit where they were staying, Petra suffered a broken pelvis, but she managed to hold onto the top of a palm tree for around eight hours until she was rescued by Thai civilians. After being airlifted to an inland hospital nearby, Petra spent three weeks in a Thai hospital and then flew home to the Czech Republic, where she spent an additional three weeks in the hospital. Initially, Simon was presumed missing, but tragically his body was found and identified on March 3, 2005, on the shores of Sumatra.
In December 2005, Petra published her book, Love Always, Petra, which tells of her early life under Communist rule, her entrance into the fields of fashion and modeling, and her breakthrough into Sports Illustrated, which was her springboard to becoming a supermodel. She also tells of her life with Simon and how they fell in love and became engaged to marry. Petra has repeatedly stated that she feels incredibly “lucky to be alive,” and she gave back to those who were not as lucky by posing from her hospital bed for US Weekly as a fund-raising effort for tsunami relief.
She also set up the Happy Hearts Fund, whose mission is to help children who have been affected by hardship or loss as a result of economic or natural disasters. It actively partners with charities, donors, and foundations committed to providing immediate, tangible assistance for children. Petra’s first interview after her horrific experience was with Diane Sawyer on ABC’s “Primetime Live” on March 9, 2005. She has also spoken of her experiences on the “Larry King Live” program on CNN.
In November 2007, Petra visited Haiti alongside Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean as part of a charity-sponsored event. A computer lab and an eatery in the slums of Port-au-Prince were funded and sponsored by Wyclef’s Yéle Haïti foundation and Petra’s Happy Hearts Fund. Her charity work continues, and in 2008 she visited Peru to help support the victims of the 2007 Peru earthquake. Petra also appeared in the 2007 British FHM calendar as Miss May.
On July 7, 2007, she was a presenter at the American leg of Live Earth and appeared in the music video “Misfit” by American indie group Elefant. She is currently working with HP computers to produce a multimillion-dollar TV and web campaign, and she is the host of TLC’s “A Model Life.”In July 2007, Petra became a vegan after learning about the planet’s rapidly depleting fish stocks, having given up meat and dairy in February of that year. “When not traveling, I split my time between New York and London. It all seems a long way from the small mining town where I was born. I am very thankful for everything,” she says of her extraordinary life.