Nena von Schlebrügge
Baroness Birgitte Caroline "Nena" von Schlebrügge (born January 8, 1941) is a Mexican-born Swedish and American fashion model from the 1950s and 1960s. She started her high-fashion modelling career in London in 1957. She then continued her career in New York City in 1958 at the Ford Modeling Agency. In New York, she worked at "Vogue" and "Harper's Bazaar." She is now the Executive Chairwoman of Menla Mountain Retreat and Managing Director of Tibet House US. Family. Schlebrügge's father belonged to German nobility. Her maternal grandmother's parents were German and Danish. Her  mother was Birgit Holmquist, 's model for "Famntaget" ("The Embrace"), a 1930s statue of a nude woman that overlooks the harbor of Smygehuk in Sweden. Her paternal half-sister was the grandmother of German-Swedish football player Max von Schlebrügge. Career. Modeling. In 1955, at the age of 14, Nena was discovered by "Vogue" photographer Norman Parkinson when he was on a tour in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1957, Nena moved to London, United Kingdom, to pursue a career in high-fashion modeling. She found immediate success and was invited to come to New York City by Eileen Ford of the  Ford Modeling Agency to continue her modelling career. In the snow storm of March 1958, at the age of 17, she arrived in New York City on the "Queen Mary". In New York City, she continued her career as a top model, working at "Vogue" and "Harper's Bazaar". She was photographed by many fashion photographers, including Gleb Derujinsky. Acting. In 1967, she had a part in the Edie Sedgwick film "Ciao! Manhattan". The film took four years to make; and drastic changes from the original story were made, causing the filmmakers to remove many scenes. including Nena's, shot  in 1967. These deleted scenes can be found on the DVD version. Open Center and Tibet House. From 1987 to 1989, Nena was the Program Director at the New York Open Center from 1991 to 2002. She is the Managing Director of Tibet House US in New York City. Tibet House US was founded in 1986 by the Thurmans, Philip Glass, and Richard Gere, at the behest of the Dalai Lama. Nena oversaw the construction of Tibet House US and the educational programming. With Philip Glass, she initiated the annual benefit concert at Carnegie Hall and the annual benefit auction  at Christie's. She was executive producer of "The First 30 Years of Tibet House U.S." film, directed by John Halpern. Since 2001, Nena has been the Managing Director of the Tibet House US-owned Menla Mountain Retreat and is now the Executive Chairwoman, where she has overseen the construction of a state-of-the-art Tibetan medicinal spa facility and business in the Catskill Mountains in Phoenicia, New York. She is also a psychotherapist. Personal life. Nena married Timothy Leary in 1964 at the Hitchcock Estate (commonly known as "Millbrook"). D. A. Pennebaker documented the event in his short  film "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You". Charles Mingus played piano at the wedding ceremony. The marriage lasted a year before von Schlebrügge divorced Leary in 1965. In 1967, she married Indo-Tibetan Buddhist scholar and ex-monk Robert Thurman, whom she had met at Millbrook. In the same year, Nena and Robert's first child, Ganden Thurman, was born. In 1970, Robert and Nena's second child, Uma Thurman, was born. They have two more sons: Dechen (b. 1973) and Mipam (b. 1978). The children grew up in Woodstock, New York in a house built by the Thurmans  on nine acres of land purchased with Nena's inheritance. In addition to their four children, the pair have seven grandchildren, including Maya Hawke.