Tatjana Patitz has died at the age of 56. The supermodel’s Model CoOp agent, Corrine Nicolas, confirmed the news to Insider. Nicolas told the outlet, “Tatiana passed away this morning in California. The cause of death was breast cancer. Needless to say, we are all devastated by her passing.”
Nicolas continued, “She was compassionate soul, kind and generous of heart and an avid advocate of animal rights. One of the major causes she supported was the conservation of wild horses through ‘Return to Freedom- Wild Horse Conservation’ in Santa Barbara.”
Vogue was first to report on Patitz’s passing on Jan. 11. She is survived by her 19-year-old son Jonah Johnson, as well as her sister and parents.
Often referred to as one of the “original supermodels,” Patitz graced countless covers of high fashion magazines and the runways of Christian Dior, Chanel, Valentino, Kenzo, Donna Karan, Hervé Léger, Vivienne Westwood, Karl Lagerfeld’s eponymous label, and more during the height of her career in the 1980s and ’90s.
Patitz was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1966 and raised in a small town in the South of Sweden by her German father and Estonian mother. The star was discovered after entering an Elite Model Management contest in Stockholm at age of 17. Snagging third place, Patitz won a trip to Paris with a limited-time contract. After the legendary photographer Peter Lindberg took the bourgeoning model under his wing in 1988, Patitz’s career took off.
The Peter Lindbergh Foundation shared their condolences on Twitter. “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Tatjana Patitz, a long-time friend of Peter’s,” they wrote. “We would like to salute Tatjana’s kindness, inner beauty and outstanding intelligence. Our thoughts go to her loved ones and particularly Jonah. She will be immensely missed.”
The model also posed for legendary fashion photographers including Herb Ritts, Irving Penn, Patrick Demarchelier, Steven Meisel and many more. Patitz became a member of the famous rat pack of supermodels thriving in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Patitz starred alongside Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, and Cindy Crawford in George Michael’s iconic “Freedom! ‘90” music video, directed by David Fincher. The video’s success lead to many referring to the group as “The Big Five.”
Setting down roots in California, Patitz went on to pursue a career in acting, and gave birth to her son, Jonah in 2004. The model took her last trip down the runway during Milan Fashion Week in 2019 for Italian fashion house Etro’s Fall/Winter 2019 presentation.
The supermodel walked the red carpet with her son just this past October at the Tribute to Bambi in Berlin, Germany.
