About
Professional model who appeared on 255 magazine covers and 27 covers of American Vogue. She is also the co-founder of Wilhemina Models, which launched in New York City in 1967.
Before Fame
In 1956, she borrowed money from her father to attend modeling school. By 1959, she was approached by an agent that recommended weight loss and a different name.
Trivia
Early in her career, she was under continuous pressure to diet and lose weight. After scaling back 40 pounds, she broke into the industry with her first magazine cover.
Family Life
In 1965, she married Victor Bruce Cooper, who had previously worked for Johnny Carson. Media outlets alleged that her husband was an alcoholic who physically abused her, although she remained married to him until her death of lung cancer in 1980. Just prior to her death, she changed her will to ensure that her two children would inherit her shares in Wilhemina Models, effectively limiting her husband's control over the company.
Associated With
Faye Dunaway played her in Gia, the 1998 movie that tells the story of how Cooper discovered doomed model Gia Carangi.
