What Is Tatjana Patitz's Net Worth and Salary?
Tatjana Patitz was a German model and actress who had a net worth of $14 million. Tatjana Patitz began modeling as a teenager and rose to prominence in the '80s and went on to grace more than 200 magazine covers, including the American, British, and Italian versions of "Vogue." Tatjana was one of the five "Original Supermodels," along with Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington. All five appeared together in George Michael's "Freedom! '90" music video, which "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked #11 on it's 2021 list of "The 100 Greatest Music Videos."
As an actress, Tatjana Patitz appeared in the films "Rising Sun" (1993), "Ready to Wear" (1994), and "Restraining Order" (1999), the television series "The Larry Sanders Show" (1995) and "The Single Guy" (1996), and the music videos "Duran Duran: Skin Trade" (1987) and "Korn: Make Me Bad" (2000). She has also starred in international commercials for Revlon, Ralph Lauren, Levi jeans, Cartier, and Pantene.
Unfortunately, Tatjana Patitz died on January 11, 2023 at the age of 56.
Early Life
Tatjana Patitz was born on May 25, 1966, in Hamburg, Germany. Patitz grew up in Skanör, Sweden, and the family had the opportunity to live in different countries because of her father's job as a travel journalist. Her mother was a dancer who performed in the famous Paris cabaret Le Lido. At age 7, Tatjana learned how to ride horses, and while staying at the family's summer home in Mallorca, Spain, she took part in horse camps. Patitz has said that she associates horseback riding with "freedom, connectedness, and dedication."
Career
At age 17, Tatjana entered the 1983 Elite Model Look contest and came in third place. After signing a modeling contract, she moved to Paris, and in 1985, she appeared on her first major magazine cover, British "Vogue." That year Patitz began working with photographer Peter Lindbergh, and in his book "10 Women," Lindbergh wrote of her, "I admire Tatjana because she always stays herself. She's very soft, but at the same time she's very strong and knows how to stand up for what she thinks, and it's always very enriching to be with her. It's impossible not to admire her and over the years not to be just a little bit in love with her." Patitz appeared in an editorial for French "Vogue" in the fall of 1985, then she went to New York and modeled for American "Vogue" and "Cosmopolitan." An Irving Penn photograph of Tatjana entitled "Colored Contact Lenses" was featured in the December 1985 issue of "Vogue," and in 1992, it was included in the book "On The Edge: Images from 100 Years of Vogue" as one of the era's iconic photographs. Patitz appeared on the cover of Italian "Vogue" twice in 1986, and the following year, she was photographed for Revlon's "The Most Unforgettable Women in the World" ad campaign. She appeared on the cover of American "Vogue" for the first time in 1987, and after she began collaborating with photographer Herb Ritts, she became the subject of one of his most famous photographs, "Tatjana Veiled Head (Tight View), Joshua Tree 1988." In 1989, Patitz appeared on the cover of American "Vogue" two months in a row.
(Photo by Manfred Laux/Getty Images)
During the '90s, Tatjana appeared in runway shows and ad campaigns for fashion houses such as Versace, Chanel, Valentino, Donna Karan, Karl Lagerfeld, and Vivienne Westwood. She was also the face of minimalist fashion designer Jil Sander's eponymous fashion house. In 1992, Patitz signed a cosmetics contract with Germaine Monteil, and she was named one of the world's top 10 supermodels by "New York Magazine." In 2000, she appeared on the cover of the Chinese version of "Harper's Bazaar," followed by "Elle UK" and Italian "Elle" in 2001. She appeared in Kookai's 2003 Spring/Summer campaign and Jigsaw's 2004 Fall/Winter campaign. Photographer Juergen Teller included Tatjana in his "Cover Girls" portfolio for "W Magazine's" September 2006 issue, and in that year her interior design style was showcased in "Livingetc" magazine. In 2009, Patitz walked the runway for Jean Paul Gaultier, modeling his Hermès Fall/Winter collection. She took part in Karl Lagerfeld's "Coco on the Lido" 2010 Chanel Cruise collection show in Venice, and in 2011, she became the spokesmodel for Shiseido's cosmetics campaign. Tatjana appeared on the cover of "Numéro China" in 2013, and in 2014, she starred in a L'Oreal Age Perfect ad campaign with Jane Fonda. In 2020, she was referenced in the "Vogue" article "Who Was Tatjana Patitz, The Most Mysterious Of The Original Supers?" and the "Harper's Bazaar" article "The 21 Top Supermodels That Dominated Fashion in the '90s." A 2021 "L'Officiel" article about '90s supermodels referred to Tatjana as "the most beautiful face of the decade."
Personal Life
Tatjana welcomed a son, Jonah, in 2004," and in 2019, she told Mercedes-AMG's 63Magazine:
"My son is my source of happiness in life. My friends, my animals, and nature give me balance and satisfaction – the feeling of being connected…I would like to send an empathetic person with a big heart out into the world. Jonah should always have the self-belief to be himself and to embody and articulate his own attitude and opinions."
Patitz also spoke to the magazine about getting older, stating:
"I am proud of my wrinkles. I worked for each one and they belong to me. Growing older is beautiful. You become wiser and more mature….Beauty means being a good person and being there for others. In my opinion, beauty is not only about looks, but everything that makes up a person."
Tatjana was a vegetarian and animal rights advocate. In 2007, she starred in a PSA for Orangutan Outreach, an organization whose mission is to "protect orangutans in their native forests of Borneo and Sumatra while providing care for orphaned and displaced orangutans until they can be returned to their natural environment."
