Natalia Vodianova has walked in more than 200 runway shows, graced countless Vogue covers, and fronted campaigns from Calvin Klein to Stella McCartney. The 44-year-old model got her break at 17 and went on to become the third highest-earning model in the world in 2012, earning an estimated $8.6 million. She later married Christian Dior CEO Antoine Arnault, 48, and is expecting her sixth child. Her husband hails from one of the wealthiest families globally.
However, her glamorous lifestyle contrasts sharply with her beginnings. 'I became successful kind of beyond my needs; it didn't feel right,' she previously revealed. 'It felt like the world is wrong and why did I have this past, why did I have this childhood and all the experiences? I questioned a lot.'
Early Life in Poverty
Natalia was born into poverty in Nizhny Novgorod, a Russian city then called Gorky. Her father left before she was two. Stability from a paternal figure was absent; her stepfather walked out on her mother, Larisa, when their daughter Oksana was born with cerebral palsy and later diagnosed with severe autism.
'We lacked everything in my childhood — including compassion from other people because of my sister. People hated being our neighbours,' she told Options. 'There was no support around us for special needs and my mother refused to put Oksana in an institution, so we were unable to give her what she needed.'
As Larisa struggled to support her children—she also has a third daughter, Kristina—she set up an illegal fruit stall. Young Natalia, then just 11, started skipping school and worked 12-hour days in below-freezing temperatures with her mother. When not working, she helped care for Oksana at home.
Larisa worked hard but was no businesswoman, and there was no money. Some days, all Natalia would eat was a sachet of soup. 'I was hungry a lot of the time — you get used to it,' she told the Daily Mail. There were no holidays, no toys, barely any clothes, and no privacy. She and Oksana shared a bed for ten years: 'I love her to bits. She is like a part of me. It's really strong and I miss her because I don't see enough of her now.'
She often wore last year's shoes when her feet had grown several sizes. 'It was agonising pain — I can't tell you how painful.' Skinny, ragged, and tainted by her disabled sister's stigma, bullying was inevitable. 'I still have a scar because someone threw something metal at me — I was bleeding,' she said. 'But the mental abuse was worse. They were spitting at me and saying I was dirty like my sister and that they don't want to touch me because they're going to get poisoned.'
Puberty and Struggles
When she hit puberty and her breasts started growing, she thought she was dying. No one had explained anything about her developing body. 'I was petrified. When my breasts started growing, one grew first and I was convinced it was cancer. I was hoping it would go away. The fear I felt! I didn't want to worry my family with more things until eventually I was desperate and asked my gran,' she explained.
Her mother didn't think to tell her about periods either. Seeing how her mother struggled, Natalia didn't want to trouble her. 'It was really hard on her emotionally — she lost a lot of her hair, she lost her teeth. Sometimes I wonder how she didn't commit suicide,' she said. 'I couldn't bear to worry her about anything else.'
Natalia just put her head down — 'I was never the complaining sort' — took over the fruit stall and spent her days, and often nights, manning it in temperatures as low as -40 degrees Celsius. 'I felt helpless. It wasn't a choice, I had to be strong. Where I come from you just dream to get through another day,' she explained. 'All you want is to not think about money or food or clothes. Getting through the Russian winter — it was super cold. It was worse than you could probably imagine,' she said, adding: 'But it was good training!'
Career Breakthrough
Her life changed dramatically at 17 when a model scout encouraged her to go to Moscow, where she signed to an agency. Soon she was on a plane to Paris, from where she became one of the best-known models in the world, with campaigns for brands including Calvin Klein and Diane von Furstenberg.
At 19, she married British aristocrat Justin Portman and had three children—Lucas, now 24, daughter Neva, 20, and Viktor, 18—before the couple split in 2010. A fortnight after giving birth to first son Lucas, she was back on the catwalk. 'I did 40 shows that season!' she said. She has worked relentlessly ever since, modelling, setting up her Naked Heart Foundation, running Love Balls and Fund Fairs to raise millions.
Marriage to Antoine Arnault
Shortly after her divorce, Natalia was spotted on holiday with Antoine Arnault, CEO of Berluti and chairman of Loro Piana—and son of Bernard Arnault, chief executive of LVMH, which owns approximately 75 luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Tiffany & Co, Sephora, and Moet & Chandon. As of December 2025, Bernard Arnault has an estimated net worth of $190 billion, per Forbes.
The couple went on to have two sons together, Maxim, 11, and Roman, nine, and the family lives in Paris. In a 2017 interview with W magazine, Natalia gushed over her wealthy beau: 'Since almost our first date, it has been a superb roller coaster ride.' Antoine returned the favour: 'I remember seeing her and my jaw sort of dropped internally. I mean, of course she's beautiful, but she has something undefinable. There's an aura about her.'
In 2019, Natalia revealed that she does the majority of household chores despite her busy career. Speaking to The Telegraph, she said Antoine does not cook: 'Even scrambled eggs is an issue for my man.' She added that putting the children to bed was his one errand. 'It's still a female-dominated space, still women are making the decisions of what to feed their baby, what to buy.'
The pair got engaged later that year, with Natalia sharing a picture of her engagement ring on New Year's Eve. The following year, they married in an intimate ceremony in Paris. Natalia had been put off marriage after her divorce: 'Honestly, after the last divorce I wasn't rushing to get married. But time has shown that this relationship is very strong.' She confirmed she would sign a pre-nuptial agreement: 'When you build a relationship for life you have to have discussed all possible scenarios. If you love each other you will want to love each other even if you separate, and the best way to keep the relationship amicable is to have a solid agreement in place. You stay together for the right reasons as well because the financial side, which can be the very painful part of a relationship, is out of the way and it's just love.'
Thrifty Lifestyle
Today, Natalia lives in splendour with a view of the Eiffel Tower, but she is thrifty with fashion. 'We don't buy too much,' she said. 'Only essential shopping in the U.S. We buy for the year — maybe a couple of jeans, a couple of shirts, something warm and that's it. We're very low-key.'
On Tuesday, it was announced that Natalia is expecting her sixth child. She revealed her baby bump on the cover of Vogue France. Vogue France head of editorial content Claire Thomson-Jonville said: 'Between two runway shows, at the start of the year, Natalia Vodianova confided in me that she was pregnant. Her sixth child, at 44. I knew immediately that she had to be our summer cover star.'
