The supermodel on how she survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, being a gullible teenager and why her favourite romantic gesture involves a lift from the airport
'The moment I thought my life was perfect the tsunami crashed it apart. I was with the man I loved, the man who had asked me to marry him,' said Petra Nemcova on the 2004 tragedy in Thailand
She is one of the world’s most successful supermodels but Petra Nemcova’s career almost ended in December 2004 when she was a victim of the devastating Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand. She spent eight hours clinging to a palm tree as the waves wrecked everything around her, and when taken to hospital she was told that her injuries were so appalling she would never walk again. She was also given the news that her fiancé, British photographer Simon Atlee, was dead.
Now fully recovered, Czech-born Nemcova, 32, says, ‘Things happen in life for a purpose. You make a choice. You move forward and try and make your life better.’
Her ex-boyfriends include Sean Penn and James Blunt, and she is currently engaged to Shameless actor Jamie Belman.
Based in New York, she is the founder of the Happy Hearts Fund, which raises money for countries devastated by natural disasters.
'I was the most naive and gullible teenager in the world when I started working,' said Petra
The moment I thought my life was perfect the tsunami crashed it apart.
I was with the man I loved, the man who had asked me to marry him, and it was the day after Christmas and we were packing from the most beautiful holiday in Thailand. We had just come back to our room after a walk on the beach. Everything was wonderful. The only different thing was that the sea had pulled right back off the beach which seemed strange, but nothing like a sign of what was going to happen. Then there were shouts from the beach and I looked out of the window and there was just a wall of water. It crashed through the bungalow; there was black water, broken glass everywhere. My last memory of Simon is seeing him on the bungalow roof and thinking: ‘He’s a better swimmer than me, he’ll be OK.’ I heard him shout my name and I shouted his name and then I was out in the water, clinging to a roof seeing nothing but water.
I thought I was going to die but I still have strange memories of bliss of the tsunami.
After the first wave hit, there was a second wave and I was in the water. I felt myself starting to swallow the water and I knew this was the moment my life was going to end. It was actually a moment of pure bliss. I totally let go of any worries, any thoughts; I just accepted this was it. I felt weightless in the water and completely at peace. Then the water just as quickly pulled away and I opened my eyes to see bright blue sky. In a split second my brain clicked back into survival mode. As I was being dragged I knew I had to find something to cling on to, so I grabbed at a tree. I remained in that tree conscious and unconscious for the next eight hours.
I survived by rescuing a crab.
I was in total agony and blacking out every now and again. But I tried to remain focused. The most heart-breaking sounds were cries of children all around me. I couldn’t get to any of them and then the cries would stop. I could only move with my arms because my pelvis was broken and when the water subsided I was screaming in pain; when the water came back it relieved the pain. Then I saw a crab in the water, I pulled it out and kept in on the tree; I kept it from moving off the tree, I watched it, I guarded it, I spoke to it. I wanted to be able to feel like I was protecting something else. It sounds strange but it kept me calm.
The Velvet Revolution changed my life.
I was just 12 when communism ended. I remember turning on the television and for days and days there were images of people marching through the streets – students, intellectuals, men, women. It was a revolution to end a regime but it was done totally peacefully: no riots, no weapons. It was a quiet storm. That was what brought this massive change and suddenly the world around us opened up and the course of my life altered forever. I would never have been able to become a model under communism.
Petra with Simon Atlee, who was her fiance. He died in the 2004 tsunami in Thailand
I was the first girl to hit the boys back.
In my village near the Polish border there was an Easter tradition: all the women stay in the house and the men all leave. After midday, the men knock on the doors of the house with a big braided stick and a bucket of water. The women come to the door and they are hit with the stick and water is tipped over them. It is meant to symbolise the fact that for the next year the women will be obedient, clean and beautiful. I hated this tradition and my sister and I would try to lock ourselves in the bathroom. One year I decided I had had enough. I asked all the girls to bring a wooden spoon into school the next day and when the boys walked into class I walked over and hit them with my spoon. It was very funny; everyone at home still remembers I did that.
I was the most naive and gullible teenager in the world when I started working.
I was just 15 when I was talent-spotted in Prague and then two years later I was asked to go to work in Milan. I didn’t speak any Italian and my English was very bad because I had been taught the language by teachers who were just learning it themselves. I had no understanding that sometimes people just lie. If a man said he was a prince, I would believe it. I had to learn quickly. You either fall on your backside or you listen. I chose to listen. At the time, spiking models’ drinks was a big thing to do in nightclubs; I was so paranoid about it for years I only drank bottled water after. That definitely kept me out of a lot of trouble.
I only realised I had made it when bodyguards were sent to my hotel.
I did a Victoria’s Secret campaign and then I shot the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. At the time I didn’t realise either were a particularly big deal. After shooting for Sports Illustrated I was flown to New York for a launch party. There was a knock on my door after I arrived in the hotel and it was a bodyguard. I was totally thrown. But at the party there were paparazzi, people going crazy – all of a sudden I had arrived in this different league. That was the moment I realised it had all become a very big deal.
The most romantic thing a man ever did for me was to give me a ride from the airport.
He was all dressed up as a chauffeur and he was holding a card with my name on. I was exhausted and I couldn’t have had a bigger or better surprise. To me it was all about someone who had been completely thoughtful and gone out of his way to do something really different and sweet. I’ll never forget it. I have dated some famous men and I have been in situations where you are offered stunning diamonds or incredible things. To be honest, it doesn’t impress me that much.
The worst tragedies bring out the greatest kindness in other people.
After the tsunami had subsided in 2004, a Thai man came over to me. I was completely naked in the debris because every shred of my clothing had been torn away. He was wearing a bathing suit with shorts. In the midst of this absolute devastation, his first thought was to remove his shorts and try and put them on me to cover me. I was crying and laughing at the same time but also screaming out in pain because he then tried to put me on his back and it was just too painful. He gestured to me that he would be back. He returned with more rescuers. In the hospital the morphine had run out in the first hour. I sat there next to an old man who was wearing nothing but a chain around his neck with a tiny image of a Buddha. When he saw me he took it off his neck and gave it to me for luck. These acts of kindness became the inspiration for my Happy Hearts Fund, which has grown bigger and bigger and helps in every country where disaster has torn lives apart.
