Kazakhstan Supermodel Ruslana Korshunova Dies in Possible Suicide Plunge

The dark side of supermodels is almost a fairly common thing, as we often see them deal with eating disorders, personal troubles and disenchantment with the business. But those things usually happen years into a career. For Kazakhstani model Ruslana Korshunova, the 20-year-old rising supermodel was expected to have a long career ahead of her. But personal troubles may have caught up to Ruslana Korshunova very early and created the worst kind of result. At her Manhattan apartment Saturday afternoon, a few witnesses saw Ruslana Korshunova fall from her ninth story window to her death, in what may or may not be a suicide.

Born in Kazakhstan on July 2, 1987, Korshunova was first discovered at age 16 by the London-based modeling agency Models 1. They tracked Korshunova down when they found her posing for a Kazakstan magazine feature on a German language club. When she began to model professionally, Korshunova. was described as something out of "a fairytale" by people like Models 1 senior booker Debbie Jones. Soon, Korshunova was represented by IMG in New York, Paris, Milan and London.

In 2005, Korshunova appeared on the cover of Elle and on the cover of Vogue in Russia and Poland. That year, Korshunova was also named the "fashion muse of the moment" by the Sunday Times of London. She would model for such prestigious houses like DKNY, Betsey Johnson, Mark Jacobs, Nina Ricci and Vera Wang.

During the last several months, Korshunova published some emotional poems and statements on her social network page which may support the theory of her suicide. She wrote three months ago "I'm so lost. Will I ever find myself?" and wrote in January "It hurts, as if someone took a part of me, tore it out, mercilessly stomped all over it and threw it out." However, people around Korshunova in the last days of her life, like her best friend Kira Titeneva and her doorman Mahmoud Nakeeb, gave statements that Korshunova was smiling and looked happy in her last days, instead of depressed.

An investigation is under way to determine the official cause of Korshunova's death. Early reports indicate there was no sign of a struggle.

Sources