Karen Mulder

**Karen Mulder** (born June 1, 1970) is a Dutch model and singer. During the 1990s, she was a supermodel. In the early 2000s she experienced mental health problems but subsequently has overcame them in her return to music and modelling.

## Biography

Mulder was raised in Den Haag and Voorburg. Her father, Ben Mulder, is a tax inspector and her mother, Marijke (née de Jong), is a secretary. She has a younger sister, Saskia Mulder, who became an actress after a stint studying economics. Mulder enjoyed swimming, singing, and sailing as a child.

### Career beginnings

In 1985, Karen's family went on a camping trip in the south of France. She saw an ad for Elite Model Management's "Look of the Year" contest in a newspaper. A friend took some photographs she had of her and sent them to Elite without her knowledge. She won the preliminary contest in Amsterdam, and was sent to the finals of the contest, placing second.

By her second year on the runway, she was modeling for Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, Christian Lacroix, Versace, and Giorgio Armani. She appeared on the cover of *Vogue* and before long, landed a contract for Guess in 1991, when she was 21 years old. She soon appeared on the cover of British *Vogue* and in a Nivea advertising campaign. In 1992, Mulder signed a contract with *Victoria's Secret*. In 1993 she appeared on the cover of *Vogue* twice (January and March)

Other campaigns she appeared in included Calvin Klein, Claude Montana, Ralph Lauren, Yves Saint-Laurent's Rive Gauche fragrance, as well as Guerlain, Chloé, Revlon, Jacques Fath, Gianfranco Ferré, Gianni Versace, Chanel, and Hervé Léger. Mulder has worked with some of the greatest fashion photographers, including Javier Vallhonrat, Peter Lindbergh, Patrick Demarchelier, Bruce Weber, Helmut Newton, Max Vadukul, Gilles Bensimon, Fabrizio Ferri, Steven Meisel, Irving Penn, Robert Erdmann, and Arthur Elgort.

One of the first issues of *Top Model* magazine was entirely devoted to Mulder along with an entire issue of *Italian Vogue*. Her two appearances in the *Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue* in 1997 and 1998 and her poses for the Victoria's Secret catalogue increased Mulder's profile. In 1997 she released her own calendar.

Mulder went on to share catwalks with models such as Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, and Naomi Campbell. At one point in her career she was earning up to £10,000 a day. Mulder retired from modeling in 2000.

Afterwards, she tried other career paths. She branched out into acting, making her debut in the French short film *A Theft, One Night* in 2001. She also pursued a career in music but had limited success.

### Personal life

In 1988, at the age of 18, Mulder married French photographer René Bosne. They divorced in 1993. She was engaged to real estate developer Jean-Yves Le Fur in 1995. Also, in 1995, Le Fur began to manage Mulder's off-the-runway career. In 1995, he collaborated with Hasbro on a Karen Mulder doll, which spurred development of an entire line of dolls modeled on the supermodels of the time. Le Fur and Mulder also made an infomercial and video. Mulder released a beauty and fashion CD-ROM, in which she gave makeup, beauty, and exercise tips. That same year, she bought a château in France and set up a programme to provide holidays there for underprivileged children.

She attempted suicide in 2002, by overdosing on pills. On December 10, 2002, after suffering for years from chronic depression, Mulder went into a coma after she overdosed on sleeping pills in an apparent suicide attempt. She left no note. She was rushed to the American Hospital in Neuilly after neighbors found her passed out on the floor of the Paris apartment on exclusive Avenue Montaigne where she was staying with friends.

Karen's parents flew from the Netherlands to be by her side along with former fiancé Jean-Yves Le Fur. Le Fur was reportedly one of the people who found Mulder unconscious after arriving at the apartment after Mulder had not answered several of his telephone calls. She awoke from her coma the next day.

In 2004, Mulder decided to re-enter the music industry. She worked with Daniel Chenevez of the Niagara group to create the self-titled CD Karen Mulder. She gave birth to a daughter, Anna, on 30 October 2006.

On July 1, 2007, she returned to the catwalk at the Dior Autumn/Winter 07/08 Couture Collection in Paris, modelling alongsides [[Naomi Campbell], Linda Evangelista, Helena Christensen, Amber Valletta, Shalom Harlow, and Stella Tennant.

She has a daughter, Anna (born October 30, 2006).

## Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

Karen appeared in five consecutive *Victoria's Secret Fahion Shows* from 1996-2000.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Karen Mulder profile. NYMag.com, New York Media LLC (Ed.). Retrieved on May 8, 2020.
2. ↑  Karen Mulder profile. *Factmonster.com*. Pearson Education (Ed.). Retrieved on May 8, 2020.
3. ↑ Salty (December 11, 2002). Supermodels Are Lonelier Than You Think! Karen Mulder Special. Antville.org. Retrieved on May 8, 2020.

## External links

* Karen Mulder Biography
* Karen Mulder links at FreeOnes
* Karen Mulder at Babepedia
* Karen Mulder article at *Wikipedia*