She was known as the “Russian Rapunzel.”
A catwalk sensation and the face of Nina Ricci perfume, Kazakh-Russian model Ruslana Korshunova was just 20 years old when she jumped from her ninth-floor apartment to her death in 2008.
Two years before her tragic suicide, the then-18-year-old model was flown to Jeffrey Epstein’s private Little St. James island aboard the sex trafficker’s Boeing 727 aircraft, the “Lolita Express.”
“She was in a cult at the time of her suicide,” DailyMail.com reports, “with her appearance in Epstein’s flight logs raising fears she’d been badly-exploited.”
(Video: YouTube)
Korshunova’s name resurfaced as part of the ongoing release of unredacted court documents surrounding Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s 2015 defamation case against Epstein’s monstrous madame, Ghislaine Maxwell.
In an emailed May 2011 exchange between Giuffre and her then-PR agent, Brad Edwards, an attorney based in Florida, Edwards asked Giuffre if she recognized the troubled model.
Providing a link to a Newsweek article about her untimely death, Edwards told Giuffre that Korshunova had enjoyed a trip to a private island with a wealthy male admirer, according to DailyMail.com.
“I think it’s a long shot you would recognize her, but read the article I attached and then look at the pictures and see if you recognize her,” Edwards instructed Giuffre, adding, “I will call you tomorrow.”
TEEN MODEL’S TRAGIC SUICIDE LINKED TO EPSTEIN’S ISLAND
When she was a teenager, Ruslana Korshunova, a top Kazakh-Russian model, visited Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious Little St James island.
Just two years later, she tragically took her own life in 2008. pic.twitter.com/rataxIWAcT
— Global Guru (@Uptoguru786) January 5, 2024
“I am so sorry to hear the news of Ruslana, and my condolences are with her family and friends,” Giuffre replied. “I can say that I have never had any meetings with her, sorry not to be of any help there.”
According to a report from The Cut at the time of her death, Korshunova “worked with the elite modeling agency IMG, which boasts top models Heidi Klum and Kate Moss.”
Interestingly, Klum and Moss both modeled for Victoria’s Secret, founded by billionaire and close Epstein associate Les Wexner, who has also appeared in the document dumps.
According to a July 2019 report in The New York Times, “Within years of meeting Mr. Epstein, Mr. Wexner handed him sweeping powers over his finances, philanthropy and private life, according to interviews with people who knew the men as well as court documents and financial records.”
Korshunova “had appeared on the covers of French Elle and Russian Vogue and in ads for Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang, and Christian Dior,” according to The Cut. “British Vogue called Korshunova ‘a face to be excited about’ in 2005.”
ruslana korshunova on set for kenzo (2005) pic.twitter.com/0E7LF8W6Pk
— offduty ⭒ runway (@offdutyrunway) December 28, 2023
Having suffered a setback in her modeling career, Korshunova joined in Russia an extreme “self-help” group known as Rose of the World, DailyMail.com reports.
Like the notorious NXIVM, the group, which “had a reputation for ‘dehumanizing’ treatment of its followers,” according to DailyMail.com, was seen by many as a cult.
“Not long after signing up for one of their courses – which reportedly cost more than $300 a day – Korshunova was found dead on the street,” DailyMail.com reports.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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