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A model nicknamed the Russian Rapunzel for her flowing hair, plunged to her death at the weekend from her home in a tower in New York.
Ruslana Korshunova, 20, a cover girl for French Elle and Russian Vogue, fell from her ninth-floor flat in the Manhattan financial district on Saturday. Police said they were investigating her death as possible suicide.
There were no signs of a struggle in the flat in which she had lived for two months, but a hole had been ripped in the construction netting that covered the balcony from which she apparently fell.
The model was wearing blue jeans and a purple tank top, but no shoes. Ms Korshunova, born in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, found fame after a model booker saw her in an article in an in-flight magazine about the German club in her home town of Almaty.
“I saw her by chance and she looked like something out of a fairytale. We had to find her and we searched high and low until we did.” Debbie Jones, a senior booker at Models 1, told British Vogue three years ago. “She's really incredible, with feline features and timeless beauty.”
The 5ft 9in model became known as “The Long Hair Goddess” for her locks, which she did not cut until she was 15.
The beauty, then 17, was hailed as “fashion's muse of the moment” by The Sunday Times, and British Vogue called her “a face to be excited about”. She strutted the catwalk for such designers as Jill Stuart and Betsey Johnson, and modelled in campaigns for Paul Smith, Moschino, Marc Jacobs, DKNY, Vera Wang and Christian Dior.
“She came in this morning, she smiled, no sense of depression,” Mahmoud Nakeeb, the doorman at her 12-storey building said. “She was a very sweet girl, always smiling, never depressed-looking.”
On a social networking site Ms Korshunova wrote: “My dream is to fly. Oh, my rainbow it is too high.” But in January, she wrote: “I'm so lost. Will I ever find myself?”
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Just because shes gorgeous & successful doesnt mean shes not human. It's easy to look past a beautiful facade and not see the real person suffering underneath. I think everyone has thought about suicide once in their life, but it's different to act on it. Beauty doesnt make you immmune to emotions.
Alana, Scranton,
I heard that she died because of a broken relationship.
It's not like he was the only guy in the world, I wish she would not have done that, if true. She is so beautiful. Whatever happened, poor girl!
Anya, Barcelona, Spain
i think she was murdered. why would a successful beautiful young lady have committed a suicide? even if she feeling depressed, she would probably buy a house in the country side and forget about all this glamorous life. Our people (from former soviet union) are not that crazy to committ a suicide.
Lola, Almaty, Kazakhstan
i feel sorry for her she was truely a fairy tale
Manu, delhi, India
The death of any young person is so very sad ,regardless of beauty ,i am sure a family and many friends are grieveing .M y condolences on there loss.
Andrea uk
andrrea, sussex,
Mary Morrell & others - what a load! So on one site, as a (gasp!) adolescent/young adult she posts that she feels 'so lost'. The fact that she wrote it is quite normal at that age (look at many teens' journals, not to mention many rock/folk lyrics) . That this comment = suicide is assumptive at best
Mia, Brighton, UK
the netting was far below her apartment.
apparently she was sad about a relationship, and watching "ghost" is not exactly the best way to feel happier.
Martin, -, -
Why assume a suicide? If there was construction netting, perhaps she was just trying to remove it to get a view and being still dark out... she lost her footing?? Such a beautiful person, so very sad.
kate, Denver, USA
This beautiful young girl was falling apart in her mind to scared and confused to understand what was happeng to herself in th fast superficial modeling world she was in. The only way she could relate her feelings was to cry out on her social networking site the pain and turmoil she was suffering.
MaryMorrell, Manchester, United Kingdom
it is so sad to no shes gone very beatiful and talented model Looked up to her seariously .she was so talented
la'tanya, sacramento california, usa
that's sick.!.. why bring up Putin? nothing else comes to your mind like drugs for a 20 year old girl miles away from her family, lonely and most probably deeply troubled by fame and money... living it up among Wall street bankers...? I work there a block away and just that makes me depressed..
Diane, New York, USA
She was a Kazakhstan citizen Russell.
sn, Chicago IL USA,
my heart literally aches for the family of this girl and the pain that parents should never have to endure.
Lisa, Corpus Christi, USA
If she was feeling lost and depressed and wanted to "fly" she could have. Just like so many others that keep their feelings inside, i.e. Heath Ledger, no one ever really knows what she might have been going through. The pressure might have been too great and she probably missed her family. RIP.
Nikki, Salyersville, USA
Another model dead in suspicious circumstances.There would not be any sign of a struggle, would there, if she was so light,she was just lifted up & thrown through the hole ripped in
the net. Police, wake up! Investigate it as a possible murder,
too. Suicide would seem so unlikely to have occurred.
Joan Moira Peters, Whangarei UK Citizen , temp o/seas in New Zealand
Why does "always smiling, never looked depressed" preclude feeling depressed and being lost. The most lost of us are great at hiding it and leading seemingly perfect lives. We know that we should be ok and we are not and it bothers us and the darkness that's deep inside us only grows.
David, Athens, Greece
She didn't by chance say anything derrogatory about Putin or his policies did she?
J. Russell, Houston, USA