Legendary supermodel Tatjana Patitz died of breast cancer, it has been revealed.
Patitz’s agent, Corrine Nichols, disclosed the 56-year-old’s cause of death to CNN on Wednesday afternoon — just hours after the initial news of Patitz’s passing broke online.
The mom-of-one passed away at her home in Santa Barbara, Calif. She is survived by her 19-year-old son, Jonah.
Patitiz, who is famed for her 40-year career, was described by Vogue as “the quietest and perhaps the most intense of the original supermodels.”
“Tatjana was always the European symbol of chic, like Romy Schneider-meets-Monica Vitti,” Anna Wintour, the chief content officer of Condé Nast and global editorial director of Vogue, said in the magazine’s announcement of the model’s passing.
The blond became considered one of the fashion world’s OG supermodels after she appeared alongside Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington on the January 1990 cover of British Vogue.
The cover is one of the fashion world’s most famous of all time. The iconic shot was captured by Peter Lindbergh, who died in 2019.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Tatjana Patitz, a longtime friend of Peter’s,” the Peter Lindbergh Foundation tweeted Wednesday. “We would like to salute Tatjana’s kindness, inner beauty, and outstanding intelligence. Our thoughts go to her loved ones and particularly [her son] Jonah. She will be immensely missed.”
Meanwhile, Patitz also appeared alongside Crawford, Turlington and Evangelista in George Michael’s music video “Freedom! ’90.”
She had additional roles in music clips for Duran Duran and Nick Kamen, becoming a fixture on MTV in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In addition to Anna Wintour and the estate of Peter Lindbergh, other fashion figures and organizations also expressed their sadness at the supermodel’s death.
Crawford said she was “so sad to hear” of Patitz’s passing in an Instagram post, which included an old photo of the pair together.
“We were babies together in the fashion industry and I feel like we grew up together,” she wrote. “We were in so many shoots together and backstage at shows. I found her soft-spoken, sensitive, kind, inquisitive and, who could ever forget those piercing eyes.”
“Her love of animals and nature was infectious,” she added. “Sending my condolences to her family – especially the son she adored. RIP.”
Meanwhile, the Herb Ritts Foundation, dedicated to esteemed late photographer Herb Ritts, shared condolences on Instagram along with a series of photographs of Patitz captured by Ritts.
“The Herb Ritts Foundation is deeply saddened by the news of Tatjana’s passing,” the organization wrote in the caption. “Our thoughts go to her loved ones and particularly her son Jonah.”
The post was accompanied by a quote from Ritts about Patitz.
“My favorite face is probably Tatjana Patitz,” his 1999 quote began. “I think I’ve photographed her more than anybody, and to me more than any of the women she has the most unusual face: strong, oval, the almond eyes and those strong lips – and it’s her gaze, her inner self that always comes through so strongly.”
Meanwhile, Vogue model Eva Herzigova joined the chorus of Instagram sorrow, writing, “An angel has left us, Tatjana Patitz.”
Patitz — who was born in Germany — was a self-proclaimed “animal lover” and “lover of nature,” opting to reside in the greenery of California instead of the bustling metropolis of New York City or Paris, which were the hubs of fashion during her heyday.
She lived largely outside of the public eye, unlike many of her supermodel contemporaries.
“There were glamorous moments, but it was exhausting,” she told the Guardian in a 2009 interview. “The low points were having to travel so much and being exhausted. I always thought that [fashion and modeling] wasn’t who I was; it was what I did. It didn’t define me. Living out here and coming back to this place was like a sigh of relief in a sense.”
The late supermodel even appeared in a series of PETA campaigns, including the 1993 advert “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” in which she appeared in the buff alongside fellow models.
She also promoted the organization’s “Models of Compassion” petition, which was signed by models who promised to never wear fur, and appeared in a “Live and Let Live” vegetarian campaign.
“Patitz became a supermodel, but PETA will always remember her as a model of kindness,” Lisa Lange, the vice president of PETA, told The Post in an emailed statement.
