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,
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