She was one of the most famous models in the world, the greatest photographers worked with her. But now Marie Helvin is finished. She wants to return to her native Hawaii to work in a supermarket.
Marie Helvin was one of the first supermodels. She graced the covers of Vogue in the 1970s and 1980s, and the most famous photographers work with her. Men like Marlon Brando, Warren Beatty and the cricketer and former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan were among her admirers. But now, at the age of 69, the fame has vanished and the ex-model is running out of money. She told the Daily Mail that she was going back to Hawaii, where she grew up, to work as a cashier. She was still modeling before the pandemic, but Corona ruined her. “I was working very happily, I don’t know, once a month, once every two months. I was very happy. My life was going on and I was making money, but then all of a sudden you lose your livelihood,” Helvin told the London Times in April “.
“I’m completely on my own and I don’t know what to do. I’ve used up most of my savings during the pandemic and I’m seriously considering going home,” Helvin said. She currently lives in London, but she believes she would be more likely to get a job in Hawaii.
“The stigma of age when looking for a job is less pronounced there.”
“In America you can get a job at Whole Foods when you’re over 80. Let’s put it this way: I wouldn’t apply to Whole Foods here. But back home in Hawaii, if I had to, I would go and work there.”
In 1985 she divorced photographer David Bailey. Many of her iconographic photos are from him. At the time, she received a small settlement of £100,000. After that she lived unmarried and independently. Apparently a mistake. She dated the Duchess of Cornwall’s brother, conservationist Mark Shand, for four years. Today, Helvin blames himself for the failure of the relationship. “Mark was the sweetest, kindest and most loving person. I was stupid and foolish and didn’t realize it at the time.”
But without a new marriage, she is not entitled to any financial support today. She openly admits that it would be nice if she could get help to share the costs of getting older. The article in the “Daily Mail” reads like a last call for help to find a romance that will save her from the supermarket checkout terminal. “If I’m ever lucky enough to meet someone I hope they’re older and divorced or widowed, I mean I don’t want to date a young kid.”
