Over the past ten years I worked as a model, I was able to achieve success, wealth and fame, which I did not dare to dream. However, this does not make sense to me, if I can somehow help others.

More than anything, I hate injustice. It angers me to the core. So, after reading the book “Give me a chance” *, I experienced a strong shock.

Difficult and painful to think about how my country is for children with disabilities. Hard to imagine what would have happened with my sister, if my mother had given her in the care of the state.

I remember that up to seven years I have had a perfect childhood. I lived with my mother, stepfather, grandfather and grandmother to four-room apartment in Nizhny Novgorod. And of course I was terribly spoiled. My grandmother sewed me pretty dresses and stuff Crimean grapes.

Everything changed when I was seven years old and I was born the first sister Oksana. Doctors put her diagnosis – infantile cerebral palsy. Vanya from the orphanage N 10, which describes in his book “Give me a chance”, was born in the same year as Oksana, and perhaps why his story is particularly strong hold of me. Birth Oksana literally destroyed our family. In the nursing home my mother strongly advised to abandon the child and give the girl in the care of a state institution for children with disabilities. They said that she would never go and do – grow “vegetables.” Perhaps they sincerely believed that a sick child at the hands of my mother put an end to his life. “Your own life will end, if you take a girl. Do not even think about it.”

But I have a strong mother, and she rejected all the arguments of doctors. Oxana – her daughter, she said, and care for her she would be herself. This decision is adopted mother yourself, did not listen to any doctors, no relatives and friends. Her husband, my stepfather, said, or child, or me. And he left us.

My grandmother and grandfather worked at the automobile plant and even grown fruits and vegetables in the country near Nizhny Novgorod. Throughout his life, they have been working hard. At the same time my grandmother was a very sociable man, fond of fun for the holidays and collected a lot of guests. Presence in the house of a sick child would radically change her life. “We are no longer so young and deserved rest. Let us disperse.” So we with mom and sister were in a studio apartment is not in the best area of ??town. The apartment was so small that we were sleeping with Oksana in the hallway.

After we parted, my grandmother rarely visited by us and never offered to help care for my sister. Friends also disappeared: not everyone will like to come to the house where the child lives with a disability. Seven years old I had become the only mother’s helper.

My mother and I shared the household duties. I returned from school, and my mother went to work. She moonlighted as cleaning, mopping the floors, took a house wash, and then stood up on the night shift at the dairy plant. I, until it was fed a sister, cleaning up the house, cooked food, in general, as she could, ran the household.

When I read this book, I was particularly outraged by the fact that the maintenance of children in orphanages in the State provides five times more than the cost of children with disabilities who live in the family. Indeed, we have to Oksana received only pitiful monthly pension – this money is barely enough to go three times in the shop. No other government assistance, we have not seen.

No adequate medical care or kinesitherapy (movement therapy and special loads .- “O”) or a specialized children’s center, where they could keep the baby for a few hours or days. All the care and all care necessary to Oksana, her mother provided. So, she persuaded her friend, experienced masseuse, during the year to come to us every day. She managed to teach Oksana walk. When I was 11 years old, my mother and I engaged in street trading fruit. Got up at six in the morning and, while Oksana was asleep, went to the wholesale market, where buying on the box of bananas, oranges, apples and pears. Taxi we could not afford, so dragged the boxes on the bus. No permission to trade with us, of course, was not, and therefore had to pay the police and the mafia. But even so we were able to earn something. Worst of all was cold. From a fast spoiled bananas, and we wrapped them in blankets. And in a hurry to sell as quickly as possible, while not turn black. My mother and I have changed – one stayed with Oksana, the second was selling fruit. I will never forget the terrible pain of stiff toes, when I finally fell into the cold to heat. And the worst enemy I would not wish this.

Although we worked hard, but could not get out of debt. My mother always took the money. I remember how I felt ashamed when it was time to give the next debt, and money did not exist. We sat and waited with dread a knock at the door, no idea of ??what we say in my defense. I soon grew up. Yes, and my mother treated me as an adult, shared with me incubus, which was not in sight.

In the evening, before going to bed, I could not sleep for a long time: the body of a really buzzing from fatigue. Just close my eyes as I see before me a long, long tunnel. I was really scared. Such a life could not but affect their studies. I began to miss lessons – there was no power to get up and go to school, especially in winter. Not yet born, my second sister Christina, I learned quite well. But in recent years has become almost dvoechnitsey, because in my head spun one – which would earn money. I knew I was trying to explain the teachers and all to remember, but home is not engaged – not enough time.

Lack of support for our family from the state has deprived me of a normal childhood. But, in truth, I do not feel miserable. And do not pity myself, because fully adapted to the situation. My mother loved me, and it is important that a child need to be happy.

If that makes me unhappy – until now – so it’s memories of the brutality against the people to Oksana. Going for a walk with his sister, I never knew how it will turn out. I’m friends with neighborhood children, but even they often teased us, especially if you own one hurt. I do not blame anyone, especially children, but they can be ruthless. Not understanding what the child with a disability, they perceive it as something disgusting and try to stay away from him. That’s us with Oksana other children were driven away.

As we walked down the street, even adults sometimes shied away from us like Oksana was contagious. The bus we caught at his glances. Over the years I used to it. Well, that’s life. And still it hurt. Bitterness from the old injustices are not forgotten today. Teenager, I was skinny. Dressed poorly, every thing zanashivala almost to pieces. And girlfriends in high school, I almost was not, because I think as an adult, and the problems I had grown up.

I was 17 when I found out about the casting, where the girls were selected to work in a Paris model agency. I had to go into a mini-skirt, but where to get them? I pulled out my old skirt, and cut off her and somehow managed to hem. I looked awful. Seeing the long queue, frightened, and huddled in a corner. I felt as if I was again on the market just now put up for sale is me. But the camera lens – usually nothing to forgive – was not the case for my poor worn-out shoes and odezhek.

Modeling career has helped me make up for what I was deprived as a child. In 2005 I founded a charity, “Naked Heart” (“Hart Neykid Foundation”), which is building a playground for the whole of Russia. I conceived these parks as a sort of neutral territory, open to all, including children with disabilities. We have too many disadvantaged children – their parents drinking, they are beaten at home, on them being bullied at school, they are insulted in the street. They also should be a place where they can just play again become children, and for a while forget about their troubles. In my childhood and my sister was not such a place.

We are often hurt, because Russia has developed such an attitude towards the disabled, which can not be called otherwise than a profound ignorance.

Reading this book, I thought of his own life, and once again I thought that parents leave reshivshiesya of a child with disabilities, subject to emotional harassment, as if committing something shameful. Someone who, as I know this: my mother and I suffered a lot, making for Oksana house in which she was surrounded by love. The book helped me to see what’s going wrong in relation to children, locked up in state institutions.

The thought of what would become of my sister, if she gave custody of the state, has awakened in me a terrible pain, but at the same time made to feel a deep love for his mother and sister.

Of course, you realize that people are not bad – bad system. Why is she still there? We live in an age of information, and today is no longer possible to evade a simple ignorance of the situation. As it turns out that this system remains unchanged? Why do people close their eyes to?

Children with disabilities need to live at home. To do this, families need support social and health workers, access to day-care centers and special education institutions. It would be nice to everyone to reconsider their attitude towards people with disabilities. We have no right to remain indifferent to the injustice from which they suffer.

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We’ve met for the first time in her manor of the English countryside. Her children were 8, 3 & 2 years-old at the time. I’m seeing her again this year, 2 years later, on a beach in Phuket. She’s still walking and has just signed again a collection of lingerie and swimwear. A difficult life yesterday, beautiful today. From my deck chair, I’m observing her. Natalia plays in the pool with her 2 cadets, she’s wearing a tee-shirt in Néoprène and a sun block. She looks like an teenager that doesn’t care about her look. Seated on the sand, a bob on the head, she’s building sandcastles.

How has your collaboration with Etam evolved since our last meeting?
Today, I have a better approach about the creation of a collection. When I started, I’ve been told : “Do what you want”. I had trouble focusing on only one thing. I wanted to create several different lines, each with a precise theme. I wanted everything to be beautiful all together. Finally, I realized it was a mistake. Now, I only choose one theme around which I’m focusing for the whole collection. And it works much better, because everything is more fluid, people understand clearer what I’m trying to do.

This collection is called “Paradise”, why?
I’ve been inspired by this name from my trips in places like Thailand, Bali, Brazil. This collection is about emotions, thoughts, things I’ve seen, sort of a collection of experiences.

What is your paradise?
It is to be on a beach with my children. Being in contact with nature. You know, feeling the water on your skin, the heat of the jungle, the flavors of the local dishes.

Do you miss nature when you’re in the city?
Once you’ve felt this type of sensations, you just want to live it again. We say that everything is good with moderation. So, maybe such things must stay exceptional. I could certainly not live permanently on an island, this type of life isn’t for me. I don’t want precious things to become normal.

The Etam show became an expected event of the Parisian Fashion Week. More than a show, it is actually a super production with many artists (Janaelle Monae, Boy George, the Kills, Mark Ronson, Joey Starr, Uffie…), what did you think about that?
I wasn’t really involved, I only came at the final rehearsal, it was really fun and a pleasure for all the people who worked for it. The presence of the artists was really natural, the show was fluid, and we felt that they were all here because they really wanted to. It was a fantastic production.

What performance did you love?
Beth Ditto. She’s so cool, sparkling. She made me spend an excellent time. I met her briefly after the show, she has such an energy! She’s a good person.

What is with your association, The Naked Heart?
It’s still in work. We’ve extended our action to 50 cities in Russia, it is still more than the last time. I traveled a lot through the country, visited orphanages, met associations and nongovernmental organizations that do the work the State should do. All I discover overwhelming. Poor families miss help and support. My sister was born disabled, and I know how difficult it is to raise a child like that in Russia… In the rest of the world too, anyway, but especially in Russia because there are no physicians, and even less psychological help for the parents. Another overwhelming discover, the children placed in institutions are often mistreat. We are trying to establish a system to support associations that already work on the spot, for them to establish a supervising. We would also like to develop centers of psychological and juridical support for families in different Russian cities.

Where will take place your next Love Ball ?
In Paris. Actually, out of Paris. On July 6, during Couture fashion shows, we are planning an event with M.Valentino, who kindly lend us a castle. He also helps us in the organization – it is going to be very special, I’m working on it for 2 years. The point is to make a big show around fairy tales. 46 designers involved will, each, make us a dress on this theme. These dresses will be sold during the ball.

Did you see the dresses?
Of course. We have already seen the 46, but we are going to ask to others designers, such as Tom Ford who just joined us, to make some too.

Do you have a privileged contact with designers?
Of course. I’m working in fashion for 10 years, and with about everyone. I really feel blessed when I see those people supporting my project.

Who are you especially close with?
Riccardo Tisci, Stefano Pilati and Marc Jacobs…

Did they become your friends?
They did, Riccardo is one of my dearest friends.

Are there still things that scare you in fashion?
I’m not really fearful. I don’t really have a reason to, in the way that I don’t feel dependent from others’ opinion. I’m not here to satisfy everyone, but to do what it seems to be good for me. Of course, there are people whom opinion matters – my family, my friends. I’m very dedicated, hard-worker and loyal. But I also have a very strong temper.

That you forge you by working in the fashion industry?
No, I’ve always been like that.

How do you plan your holidays?
I do it in general at least 6 months before. With 3 children, I have to. Last year, we went in Spain. I fell in love with this country. We were on the Costa Brava, near Barcelona. It was so friendly. We did the Aqua Park, Luna Park, beach, a beautiful house. Then, we went to Ibiza to see our friends.

What is you ideal holidays band?
My friends Ola and Charles, and their 4 children. Ola is Russian, Charles is American. They used to live in New York and they just moved in Moscou. They have 3 girls, the same age as my children, a little one-year-old boy. We spent a lot of holidays together. People who enter my life today are parents. From the time where you have children, it changes your life, and it changes your friends.

Which sun index do you use?
Fortunately, my skin isn’t really fragile. I’m protecting myself but I don’t use anything glamorous. Some La Roche-Posay, Avène and pharmaceuticals products. Otherwise, I only swear in Super Aqua by Guerlain. I’m in love with this product, I recommend it to a lot of people.

Do you read on the sand?
I do! I’m really attracted by spiritual books, philosophy, but also fictions.

Are you spiritual?
I’m really spiritual. Life is meditation. I do yoga, not as much as I would like, but every morning, I do 12 salutations to the sun. It’s my new year resolution.

What was the beach of your childhood?
We went to Ukraine. My grand mother was native from there, we spent the summer over there. It is not the same sea as here. I remember the cherries we ate. And also apricots! We were lying under the apricot-tree, we had barely time to swallow one that we were taking another one : it was the most marvelous thing. They had a honey taste.

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Natalia Vodianova joins Freja Beha Erichsen and Lara Stone as one of the three cover stars on the first ever multi-cover issue of Vogue this month. She wears a Vivienne Westwood wedding dress for her ninth cover appearance.

The mother of three was born into poverty in Gorky, in the former USSR, in 1982 and sold fruit from a roadside stall – where she was famously discovered at the age of 15. “Sometimes we had no food,” she told the Times in 2008. “Most days, I was on the streets. We didn’t have anywhere to go – only deserted buildings and basements where teenagers were drinking. It wasn’t depressing then, but it is depressing to look back on.”

She married English aristo-artist Justin Portman in 2001 and together they have three children – Lucas Alexander (born November 22 2001), daughter Neva (born March 24 2006), and son Viktor (born September 13 2007). Her deprived childhood led her to set up the Naked Heart Foundation, which aims to provide safe and inspiring playgrounds for children in rural Russia.

Currently the face of Calvin Klein and Guerlain – and a designer for French brand Etam – Natalia has gone from poverty to the cover of Vogue with a marathon run and a cameo role in Hollywood blockbuster Clash of the Titans along the way. Here, we chart the rise and rise of the woman who Vanity Fair named “the first supermodel of the 21st Century”.

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Despite posing in just her underwear and a pair of bunny ears, model Natalia Vodianova insists that it is “almost impossible to make me look vampy”.

The rags-to-riches philanthropist, who was nicknamed Supernova by fashion photographer Mario Testino, posed as the Easter Bunny for Tatler magazine.

She signed her first modelling contract at 17 and has used her status to campaign for several good causes. She founded the Naked Heart Foundation for deprived Russian youngsters and will run the Paris marathon to raise money for it.

Vodianova, 29, who has three children with property heir husband Justin Portman, donned a bespoke pair of ears made by milliner Philip Treacy. She said: “I look so sweet, it’s almost impossible to make me look vampy.”

From the May issue of Tatler, out on Monday.

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