Seeing Seymour had terrible anxiety when it came to runways, it was legendary designer Gianni Versace who managed to convince her. He offered her an unprecedented amount of money for one show, and clearly, that did the trick. Seymour had a son and her career to think of, so she faced her fears, thought of her bank account, and did the runway show.
It was a success, and it went a long way toward conquering her fears. Before long, Seymour was walking some of the world’s most coveted fashion runways, and she felt right at home. Slowly but surely, Seymour was becoming one of the world’s most renowned supermodels.
A Simple Girl
The gorgeous Stephanie Michelle Seymour was born in sunny San Diego, California, in the summer of 1968. A middle child, Seymour grew up in a middle-class family; her mother was a hairdresser, and her father worked in real estate. As a girl, she was fairly average-looking, with a pretty face and a shy demeanor.
But that all changed once she turned thirteen and started to become a young woman. In what seemed like an overnight transformation, Seymour grew tall and slim and became a beautiful young woman with a million-dollar smile. But looks weren’t the only attribute of this gorgeous girl; she also had the brains to go with it.
The Contest that Changed Everything
At 14 years of age, Seymour got wind of a beauty competition being held by Elite Model Management titled “Look of the Year.” The year was 1983, and it was the first time the contest was held, so Seymour immediately saw the life-changing opportunity in front of her.
The young teenager needed $15 to enter the contest, and when her father refused to lend her the money, claiming she was too young to get involved in that world, her mother decided to help out. Seymour was able to enter the contest and compete against 23,000 signees for a hefty cash prize of $200,000, not to mention the recognition of winning.
An Exciting Call
The young Seymour signed up, paid the entry fee, and went back home to wait anxiously by the phone. After some days of tension, the phone finally rang, and Stephanie couldn’t believe her ears – she had managed to advance to the regionals and was being summoned to the next phase of the contest at the Grossmont Center Shopping Mall.
So, on September 16, 1983, a 15-year-old Stephanie made her way to the Grossmont Center accompanied by her mother. When they arrived, they were shocked to see the center filled with hundreds of young girls, all feeling the same anxiety.
The Apple Didn’t Fall Far from the Tree
It was clear where Stephanie got her gorgeous looks from since her mother was a complete knockout. It was clear that the Seymour women had a very special beauty to them, and there was someone at the Grossmont Center that day who immediately noticed. The founder of the world-famous modeling agency Elite Model Management, John Casablancas, quickly spotted Stephanie’s mother in the crowd.
Casablancas was mesmerized by her beauty at first, but as the day went on and little Stephanie showed everyone her “long legs and a cute little face,” as he put it, she won everybody’s hearts. Stephanie won the San Diego regional contest that day, and it was a big first step to what would be a wildly successful career.
A Clear Goal
She had won at the San Diego regionals, but now Stephanie had passed on to the next level of the contest, and the stakes were much higher. This round of the competition took place in sunny Acapulco, Mexico, and looks weren’t the only thing that mattered this time.
The young contestants had to show the judges they knew how to pose in front of a camera and could strut down a catwalk like a professional model. The judges wanted to see who could pull off wearing haut couture and walk down the runway with confidence. This time, it was about personality, and Stephanie knew she had to do her absolute best.
Minor Setback
As Stephanie had expected, this round of the competition was much harder than the last, and the other young girls competing against her were equally talented and gorgeous. In fact, it was later revealed that one of the young girls competing against Seymour that year was a little Cindy Crawford.
Unfortunately, although she had made it to the finals, Seymour ultimately lost and returned back home with a heavy heart. But she wasn’t planning on giving up just yet. Stephanie decided she would start writing cute letters to John Casablancas, including some with drawings and games. Casablancas found this charming and decided to start writing back.
The Locals Noticed
Although she had lost in the big modeling contest in Acapulco, Seymour returned home to a proud town. Many local businesses had watched the competition and noticed her looks and talent, resulting in plenty of job offers. Some famous department stores decided to hire young Seymour as their official kids’ clothing model; newspapers offered her ad pages and more.
It might not have been the glamorous modeling career she hoped for yet, but at 15 years old, Seymour was already a working model. To be earning money from posing in front of a camera and modeling was a huge accomplishment for the young aspiring model.
Summer in Paris
It was the summer of 1984, and Seymour was about to celebrate her 16th birthday when suddenly, a phone call changed everything. The famous John Casablancas called the Seymour household with an offer that sounded almost too good to be true. He was inviting Stephanie to join Elite Model Management for a summer in Paris and see for herself what a model’s life looked like.
Stephanie’s mother was over the moon with excitement for her daughter, but her father took some convincing. Ultimately, though, they decided to let Stephanie go, and she couldn’t have been happier; she was about to fulfill her dreams.
A Huge Hit
As soon as Seymour arrived in Paris, it seemed everything she did was a huge success. The 16-year-old Stephanie felt like she was living in a dream – she modeled some of fashion’s most famous runways by day and enjoyed the exclusive Paris nightlife by night. She was constantly partying with other famous models, fashion designers, make-up artists, and John Casablancas himself.
Paris was magical, and it seemed that Stephanie had made such an impression on everyone that Casablancas himself recommended her for a job in Rome. Stephanie moved to Italy for the last few months of her summer and couldn’t believe the life she was living. Sadly, though, the summer came to an end, and it was time to go back to San Diego.
Not an Easy Return
Not surprisingly, Stephanie had a hard time settling back home. She went from fashion runways, elite parties, gourmet restaurants, and the magical streets of Europe to her old routine life in San Diego. Everything felt tedious and like a dead end, and she desperately craved the excitement she had experienced during the summer.
She missed modeling most of all and knew she had to find a way to get back to it. And almost as if the stars had aligned for this young teenager, not long passed until she got a phone call that was the answer to all of her prayers.
A Great Offer
Seymour was growing increasingly impatient with her life back at home – everything seemed duller every day, and she was having a hard time focusing on schoolwork and even being with her friends. And that’s when it happened – on a seemingly normal day, the phone rang, and it was none other than John Casablancas himself. He wanted to talk to Stephanie, saying he had an offer that would be the opportunity of a lifetime.
Casablancas was inviting the 16-year-old Stephanie to another Elite Modeling Management contest that was being held in San Diego. But he didn’t want the gorgeous teen to be a contestant this time around; instead, he wanted her to go as his guest and help him judge other girls.
Too Good to Be True
Just as you might suspect, Casablancas had a hidden agenda behind his seemingly amazing offer. His reasons weren’t exactly helping Stephanie advance her career or investing in her as a smart decision for his modeling company. In fact, as a close source to the supermodel remembers, Casablancas spent the entire day flirting with Stephanie’s mother and complimenting the teenager.
But, of course, to a young girl, these motives were hard to see. So, the next big decision Stephanie would make would be to leave everything and move to New York City to become a model – with the encouragement of Casablancas, of course. Seymour left San Diego and never went back.
The City That Never Sleeps
Moving to New York made sense to Stephanie in every possible way – she was a young teenager looking to make a modeling career and get familiar with the industry, and what better place is there to do that other than New York City? Of course, having Casablancas’ support and work recommendations didn’t hurt.
He even found her an apartment to move into, in a building block on the Upper East Side that housed several other young aspiring models. Casablancas lived very close to these apartments, and so he started to spend a lot of time with Stephanie, inviting her for dinner often, taking her to parties and friends’ gatherings, and showing her the city.
A Questionable Relationship
Casablancas was asking Stephanie out almost every night, and so it wasn’t long before the casual dinners evolved into a relationship. Seymour herself remembers it just kind of happening. Apparently, she found him attractive and charming. However, let’s not forget that Stephanie was barely 16 years old, and Casablancas was a full-grown man of 42.
Needless to say, their relationship left everybody speechless and in awe of the huge age gap. And it wasn’t the only serious issue with their union; there was another very big elephant in the room, which the new couple seemed to conveniently ignore.
Another Major Issue
The 26-year age gap between Seymour and Casablancas was bad enough, but some didn’t even think that was the worst part. When he started seeing Seymour, Casablancas was a married man; he had been married for five years to gorgeous Danish model Jeanette Christiansen, and they had a small child together.
This child, their son Julian Casablancas, would grow up to be the lead singer of the world-famous rock band “The Strokes.” Not surprisingly, when asked in interviews about his father, Julian said their relationship was a complicated one. The rockstar said in an interview that he definitely grew up closer to his mom. But back to Casablancas and Seymour!
A Tough Conversation
Things were tense at the Casablancas home, and Jeanette suspected something was off. It didn’t take long for her to find out about her husband’s affair with a teenage model, and it was too much for her to bear, so she filed for divorce almost immediately.
Stephanie was the talk of the fashion town, and her relationship with Casablancas was fiercely criticized. In fact, many warned her about it. But this wasn’t what scared Stephanie; it was telling her family that had her struggling with anxiety. She held the secret for as long as she could until finally, in October of 1985, she visited her parents and spilled the beans.
The Unexpected Reaction
Logically, Stephanie was expecting a very bad reaction from her parents once she told them she was dating a 42-year-old man. However, what happened once she told them shocked her beyond words. Her mother was mostly speechless and had an unapproving facial expression, but it was her father she was mostly worried about.
To the 16-year-old’s surprise, her father was chillingly calm and told her in a very stern voice that he was genuinely worried about her. He tried to explain how he thought Stephanie was making the biggest mistake of her life, but he knew that, ultimately, the decision was hers to make. Of course, Stephanie chose to stay with Casablancas.
Making an Effort
Casablancas was fully aware of Stephanie’s family’s reaction towards him, and it made complete sense. After all, Stephanie was still a minor. He didn’t want it to become a problem for his new relationship, so he decided to make the extra effort and visit Seymour’s family for Thanksgiving that year.
The Seymour family was weary of Casablancas, but after the weekend he spent in their San Diego home, cooking and playing tennis with Stephanie’s father and brother, he had completely won them over. Surprisingly enough, by the end of the holiday, Seymour’s family seemed even happy that their daughter was dating Casablancas.
“It’s Different”
By 1986, Casablancas and Seymour had moved in together to his New York apartment. When interviewed by “New York Magazine” a few months later, Casablancas said that “Stephanie is a woman-child; her voice is a child’s, her attitudes, the way she holds her feet and hands are those of a child, at the same time with an incredible sensuality to it.”
Obviously, this comment didn’t help with people’s views of how inappropriate the relationship was. A lot of people also criticized Casablancas for giving Stephanie a fast track to modeling stardom. He helped her line up contracts, jobs, invitations, offers, and more. It wasn’t just the age gap that was the problem anymore, but the fact that this teenager was getting preferential treatment.
Standing Her Ground
Before long, Stephanie felt that everywhere she went, she was stared at and talked about. Moreover, it seemed unfair to her that because Casablancas was the modeling mogul and everybody had to be on good terms with him, nobody criticized or judged him. She was getting the brunt of it.
Things got even worse once their relationship went public after the press published the whole thing. But Seymour had never been one to back down and give up, so she kept attending all the fashion events with Casablancas by her side and faced the critics with her head held high.
Something Was Changing
Stephanie had started to get used to the gossip and nasty stares, and with time, she stopped caring and just focused on her relationship and career. Everything was fine for the first year and a half, but things slowly started to cool off, and Stephanie increasingly felt like her adoration for Casablancas was wearing off.
She felt independent and capable of managing herself in the world without anyone’s help. She was building a successful modeling career, and it was all because of her hard work. As time went on, the 17-year-old felt less interested in Casablancas and more focused on building a life and a career for herself in the city.
Moving On
After two years of being with Casablancas, Seymour realized that she no longer felt the same. She was turning 18 in a few weeks and felt like the entire world was hers for the taking. She wanted to spend time with people her age, enjoy time with her friends, and carve her own path.
Seymour made the tough decision to pack her bags and move out of her luxurious apartment with Casablancas and into a shared apartment with a model friend in the East Village. Casablancas didn’t take the breakup too well, but Stephanie was as happy as she’d ever been.
A Peak Moment
It was the 1980s, and New York City felt like the cradle of culture and fashion, and Stephanie was right in the middle of it all. By the end of the decade, Seymour was no longer a young, inexperienced model; she was paving her way to supermodel status.
She was looking as gorgeous as ever and felt at home in front of a camera; every fashion house and luxury brand wanted her. Despite the breakup, Seymour’s time with Casablancas obviously had its very big advantages since he helped give her a solid base of connections and offers to jumpstart her career.
Landing the Cover
Towards the end of the 1980s, a big call came for Stephanie – it was the editor of “Sports Illustrated,” and they wanted to photograph her for the cover of their famous Swimsuit Issue. This was a huge milestone for any young model’s career since landing the first magazine cover was a turning point in their career.
Seymour excitedly accepted and thus took the first step to becoming a world-famous supermodel. The photo shoot was a success, and the cover came out perfectly. Needless to say, the job offers came pouring in the second the magazine hit the shelves. Seymour was now the hottest new model in the business.
Posing for “Vogue”
One of the best, most ground-breaking job offers that came after the cover of “Sports Illustrated” was when Seymour got a call in 1988. This time, the stakes were much higher – they were calling from “Vogue” magazine, and they wanted Stephanie to be on the cover.
"Vogue" had decided they wanted the gorgeous California native to be their cover girl that year, and the photographer who would work with her would be none other than Richard Avedon – the man who worked for the top fashion magazines in the world and took some of the 20th century’s most iconic photographs. Not to mention, he was the man behind many supermodels’ careers.
A Whirlwind Year
Seymour’s career had skyrocketed, and by the beginning of 1989, there wasn’t a single high-end fashion magazine editor who wasn’t calling with offers. She suddenly found herself backstage for some of the world’s most coveted fashion events, and everything was going wonderfully. Even Stephanie’s love life.
In the summer of that same year, a 20-year-old Stephanie met blues guitarist Tommy Andrews, a handsome musician from Kansas City. They fell so in love with each other that by the end of the year, Andrews proposed to Seymour, and a few weeks later, they were married. They had a small, intimate ceremony with a few friends and family.
Becoming a Mother
Less than a year had passed since the two lovebirds tied the knot when Stephanie announced that she was pregnant! In 1990, the couple welcomed a son named Dylan Thomas Andrews, and they were over the moon as a new family.
Unfortunately, the newfound bliss of getting married and becoming parents seemed to fade away as quickly as it began. A few months after Dylan was born, Tommy and Stephanie couldn’t seem to reconcile their differences and decided to file for divorce. But this now meant that Stephanie was 21, at the height of her modeling career, and now a single mom. Her life would never be the same.
Not Stopping
Being a young single mom with a full-time career could cause anybody to burn out, but not Stephanie. In fact, it seemed the young model was trying to defy the norm by not only succeeding at parenting but skyrocketing to fame at the same time.
By the beginning of 1991, Stephanie was a household name in the fashion industry, appearing on the cover of high-end fashion magazines, modeling for names like Gianni Versace and Karl Lagerfeld, and becoming a Victoria’s Secret official Angel. Seymour was working for the most respected and famous names in the industry, and her profile was about to get even higher.
Boy Time
As Spring of 1991 came around, it hadn’t even been a year since the model gave birth when she was summoned by the legendary Hugh Heffner. By March, Seymour agreed to pose in her birthday suit for his magazine, becoming an icon of the world’s most famous gentlemen’s journal.
The photo shoot was a success, and Seymour seemed like a natural in front of the camera. This was also a pivotal moment for the young model’s career since it helped her realize how much power she actually had over these big brands and millionaire men. As her good friend Christy Turlington said to her, she was the one making these companies tons and tons of money.
A New Rockstar Beau
Stephanie’s photoshoot was all over the country, and people were enamored with the young model. One of those fans was none other than the founder and lead singer of the legendary rock band “Guns N’ Roses,” Axl Rose. Soon after they met, the two started dating, and this was certainly the most high-profile relationship Stephanie had ever had.
Things seemed like a perfect fit since they were both high-profile celebrities in their respective industries and knew what it meant to have a full-time job. Not to mention having the pressure of the press on them 24 hours a day.
Stability for Her Son
As any mother would feel, Stephanie’s main priority was caring for her son Dylan and giving him some emotional stability. She made this clear to Rose from the very beginning, and as soon as the rockstar met Dylan, he seemed to fall head over heels with him too.
Rose understood the responsibility he was getting into and felt strongly about becoming a stable father figure for young Dylan. Especially since Rose himself had grown up without a father, he knew how important his role was. Stephanie was over the moon with her beau's attitude, and for a while, the three of them seemed like a beautiful, healthy family together.
The Famous Videos
If you’re a 90s child, you’ll probably remember the epic music video for one of Guns N’ Roses’ most famous songs, “November Rain.” The band spent a whopping $1.5 million to make the video, and one of its stars was Stephanie Seymour herself. By the beginning of 1992, “November Rain” hit all mainstream media, and Seymour and Rose were the video’s main focus as a romantic couple.
Fans couldn’t get enough of the celebrity couple, so the band made another video for their popular single “Don’t Cry,” which also featured the supermodel. Rose and Seymour were one of the hottest couples of the early 90s, and by 1993, they got engaged.
The Fairytale Becomes a Nightmare
It was February 1993, and the seemingly perfect couple and their young son were getting ready for the wedding of a lifetime. However, a mere three weeks later, things took a turn for the worse. Not only did Rose and Seymour publicly call off the engagement, but they also announced their relationship was effectively over.
No more details were released to the press, and the only information that their baffled fans could get was an article in “Rolling Stone” magazine calling it “a very ugly split.” The article didn’t explain much, but it was clear that the couple had parted ways on very bad terms, and things were about to get much uglier.
Stephanie the Robber?
Not only was Seymour trying to get over her very painful breakup, but she was also trying to console her heartbroken 3-year-old, who once again had been left without a father. As if that wasn’t enough, Seymour had to get the shocking news that Axl Rose was suing her in August of 1993.
Apparently, he claimed that the supermodel had physically attacked him during their relationship and had stolen $100,000 worth of jewelry from his room. What was once one of the most famous celebrity romance stories turned into a public nightmare for everyone involved. Seymour couldn’t believe her ex-fiancé had accused her of doing such things. She decided to fight back.
Not Backing Down
It wasn’t just her and her son’s honor she was protecting; it was her career. She wasn’t about to let a disgruntled ex-fiancé ruin her life and the reputation that she’d worked so hard to get with his ridiculous, false accusations. Since she was due to appear in court and defend herself from Rose’s claims, she decided to enlist the help of a surprise witness.
As the court date came around, Axl Rose entered the courtroom with a confident grin on his face, certain he was about to get away with whatever he had planned. Little did he know that his clever ex-fiancé had a winning ace up her sleeve.
The Surprise Witness
It turned out that Stephanie’s surprise witness was none other than model Erin Everly, Axl Rose’s ex-wife. Seymour knew that Everly’s testimony would confirm her claims that Axl had been physically agressive toward her during their relationship.
It turns out that Axl Rose had a history of acting this way towards his partners, and Everly had been one of them. Once the judge heard two separate claims that corroborated Seymour’s statement, Rose’s accusations of Seymour attacking him and stealing his jewelry lost credibility. The trial became so heated and public that ultimately, Rose and Seymour decided to settle in private.
Axl Rose’s Parting Gift
After settling their issues in private, it seems Axl Rose still had one final bone to pick with Seymour. And so, Rose chose to cover a very disturbing song written by Charles Manson and dedicated it to Seymour. The song, titled “Look at Your Game, Girl”, has been heavily criticized.
We understand that Rose was angry and heartbroken, but this definitely went a bit too far, in our opinion, and in the opinion of basically anyone who has heard the song, read the lyrics, or knows anything about its backstory. Luckily, that was the last Seymour heard of Rose, and she happily moved on with her life.
An Unexpected Boyfriend
Some months went by, and the last thing on Seymour’s mind was getting into another relationship. However, it seems life had other plans; on a girls’ night out in New York City with her friends, Seymour met famous Hollywood actor Warren Beatty. Beatty was at the height of his career, having classic cinema blockbusters like “Bonnie and Clyde”, “Dick Tracy”, and “Splendor in the Grass” under his belt.
The actor and the model immediately hit it off, and so began their brief but passionate relationship. Beatty called things off when, after filming for 1991’s “Bugsy”, he fell for co-star Annette Bening. The two actors married a year later and have been together ever since.
The Dreaded Runway
Seymour was finally able to put her relationship with Rose behind her. However, she now faced another, more personal obstacle – her fear of runways. By 1992, Seymour was a big name in the fashion industry, having been on the cover of high-end fashion magazines and being the brand ambassador for several famous companies.
However, as comfortable and natural as she felt behind a camera, walking a runway was a whole other story. As Seymour herself remembers, she used to be booked for every show in New York and then canceled the day before due to panic attacks. Luckily, when some of the biggest fashion houses in the world want a specific model, they’ll be very persistent in convincing them.
A Persuasive Offer
Seeing Seymour had terrible anxiety when it came to runways, it was legendary designer Gianni Versace who managed to convince her. He offered her an unprecedented amount of money for one show, and clearly, that did the trick. Seymour had a son and her career to think of, so she faced her fears, thought of her bank account, and did the runway show.
It was a success, and it went a long way toward conquering her fears. Before long, Seymour was walking some of the world’s most coveted fashion runways, and she felt right at home. Slowly but surely, Seymour was becoming one of the world’s most renowned supermodels.
Her Chosen Family
One of the most beloved couturiers and shoe designers in the fashion industry, Azzedine Alaïa, was a big supporter of Seymour from the very beginning. Back in the mid-90s, Seymour was interviewed by “Vanity Fair” about her career trajectory and her new work contract with Alaïa. The model explained that she had that kind of rear end that just worked for Alaïa’s clothes.
Seymour felt like the designer made an effort to work with her; furthermore, he became a close friend and father figure to the young model. Alaïa connected Seymour to the best photographers on the scene and became her chosen family.
A New Love
By February 1993, Seymour had officially and legally ended her relationship with Axl Rose, and her career was on the rise. Her son Dylan was happy and doing well, and everything seemed to finally be stable. However, barely a month had passed since she split with Rose when Seymour met and started dating real estate developer, publisher, and art collector Peter Brant.
Seymour fell head over heels for Brant, and it seems the feeling was mutual, but as with all her previous relationships, nothing was simple when it came to Seymour and romance. It turns out that Brant was 21 years her senior, and to make things worse, he was already married to Sandra Simms, with whom he had five children.
Seymour Becomes a Mom Again
Despite her friends’ advising her against a relationship with Brant, and the media getting a hold of the complicated relationship, Seymour went full steam ahead. On December 30th, 1993, Seymour gave birth to Peter Brant II, her second son and Peter Brant’s sixth.
Logically, things became wildly more complicated. Once Brant’s wife of 20 years realized that not only had her husband been seeing someone else for an entire year but that he had now fathered a child with her, things got much worse. Despite all of this, Seymour couldn’t help but feel happy for her growing family of four, and she wasn’t giving up on the man she considered to be the love of her life.
The Long-Awaited Marriage
After a year of legal disputes and awful fights, Brant and his wife finally filed for divorce, and as soon as it was official by the start of 1995, he proposed to Seymour. Just as expected, the couple had a lavish wedding ceremony in Paris in July of 1995, and Seymour was over the moon to finally have her family all to herself.
A year later, Seymour and Brant welcomed their second son together to the family – a beautiful baby boy named Harry Joseph. It was the third child for Seymour and the seventh for Brant. Luckily, the couple had more than enough income to maintain as large a family as they wanted.
A Glamorous Life
Seymour, Peter, Dylan, Peter II, and Harry settled into their new home – a sprawling 300-acre estate that felt like the house of anyone’s dreams. The property featured a polo field, stables with over 50 ponies, a vast art collection, swimming pools, and a massive mansion.
For all intents and purposes, Seymour was living a fairytale life with a perfect family and a home that looked straight out of a magazine. Her career was better than ever, her kids were happy, and Brant was a wonderful husband. After years of heartbreak, Seymour’s life finally seemed to be on track, and her happiness just made her shine even more in front of cameras and on runways.
Becoming an Angel
Throughout the 90s, Victoria’s Secret was one of the most famous fashion lingerie brands in the world, and its models were the most coveted in the industry. By 1997, Victoria’s Secret came up with a brand strategy of referring to a very select and high-end group of its supermodels as “Angels.”
This elite group featured names like Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Helena Christensen, Tyra Banks, and others. Seymour, who already had a solid, years-long relationship with Victoria’s Secret, did her first runway show for the brand in 1997 and was named one of the prestigious Angels shortly thereafter.
The Silver Screen
Aside from modeling and fashion, there was something else that Seymour loved, and that was art. So, when she got a call to audition for a part in Ed Harris’s 2000 film “Pollock”, she was over the moon. The film was a biopic about the famous painter Jackson Pollock, played by Harris himself.
It featured a star-studded cast, including Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connely, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeffrey Tambor, and others, and was a box-office success. In the film, Seymour played the role of American abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler. She did a phenomenal job of it, making it clear that this wasn’t the end of her acting career.
Shifting to Television
When the studios realized that Seymour was far more than just a stunning model, the offers came pouring in. One of those offers came in 2002 when Seymour was asked to star in the hit TV series, “Law & Order.” The role was an exciting one, and Seymour was more than thrilled to get a chance to dabble in TV acting as well.
As expected, Seymour did a great job on the TV screen and enjoyed every day on set. All the while, her modeling career was better than ever, and she was soon going to have the opportunity to include her family in her career.
A Great Opportunity
By 2004, Seymour and Brant welcomed another child to the family – a baby girl named Lily. And two years later, in 2006, Seymour was offered a modeling opportunity that was close to her heart. Gap was launching a marketing campaign and they wanted her and her family to be at the center of it.
In a very special modeling session, Stephanie and her four kids, Dylan, Peter II, Harry, and Lily, all posed together for Gap in what turned out to be a beautiful campaign. After the shoot, it seemed that Harry Joseph and Peter II got a newfound interest in modeling. Seymour was more than happy to know that she would be able to use her professional legacy to help advance her children’s careers in fashion.
The Problems Started
For an impressive 14 years, Seymour, Brant, and their big family had made things work and were seemingly living the dream. Their children were happy and cared for, they both had very successful and profitable careers, and they lived in a beautiful home.
However, as it often happens, dreams often come to an end, and by the start of 2009, the power couple’s marriage started to have issues. The long working hours, combined with the care of their children and Brant’s previous kids from his first marriage, became too heavy a burden. Things at home started to spiral out of control.
Her Second Divorce
Despite her second marriage lasting far longer than her first with musician Tommy Andrews, it seems the couple hit rock bottom on their 14-year anniversary. By the spring of 2009, Seymour and Brant decided to file for divorce, and that was just the start of a long line of problems.
As often happens with high-profile, wealthy marriages, the divorce proceedings are never easy. Both Brant and Seymour had high-paying jobs and earned millions in revenue every year, but that wasn’t the worst of their problems. There was also the matter of custody, and since they had three children together, not including one from Seymour’s previous marriage and five from Brant’s, child custody became a debated topic.
A Messy Separation
Aside from the millions in revenue the couple brought into the marriage, there was also the matter of shared properties and goods. When they married, Brant brought in Seymour as a co-signer for several of his art pieces and estates, which now only added chaos to their separation.
The divorce was getting to be a nightmare for the high-profile couple, and they hadn’t even started to factor in the cost of each of their lawyers. Not surprisingly, things went from a mutual agreement to file for divorce to a civilized discussion to a nasty fight for their goods and their children. Nobody could have imagined just how bad things would get.
The Gloves Come Off
For over a decade, Seymour and Brant seemed to be madly in love and have it all – the perfect family, wildly successful careers, astonishing properties, luxury trips, and more. So, logically, everyone expected their divorce to be far from easy, but no one could have predicted just how ugly it would be.
Once the lawyers got involved and the dispute for property and children started, it seemed that Seymour and Brant got into fighting mode. They started bad-mouthing each other in public, making awful claims, and giving nasty court statements in an effort to pursue the judges. Their court appearances got more vicious each time; they were no longer holding anything back.
The Dark Side
Among the many nasty claims that were made in court, Seymour revealed that during their last years of marriage, Brant had placed a GPS tracker under her car without her knowledge so he could always know where she was. She begged the judge to give out an order banning him from the house because, as she explained, Brant was very intimidating.
In return, Brant stated that Seymour had an ugly substance dependency problem that had affected their family for a long time. He demanded she go to rehabilitation and seek help if she ever wanted to see her children again.
Things Get Physical
As if the divorce proceedings weren’t bad enough, things only got worse in June of 2009. Seymour had a physical altercation with a security guard who had been hired by Peter Brant to make matters worse. Apparently, the guard claims he came in for his first day on the job, and Seymour ripped his CV from his hand and tore it to shreds in front of him. In turn, the guard pushed Seymour into a door, and all hell broke loose.
Seymour immediately called the police, who charged the security guard and took him to the station. The guard then filed a lawsuit against Seymour, which the court quickly dismissed. The model’s life was in a tailspin, and her personal struggles started to bleed into her work.
A Shocking Response
The very public and disastrous divorce had gone on for an entire year, and things only seemed to be getting worse. Both Brant and Seymour had spent an unimaginable amount of time and money, and their children were caught in the middle of it all. But good news was coming after all.
Just when everybody was waiting for the next terrible thing to happen, especially after the physical altercation between Seymour and Brant’s security guard, the most shocking thing happened. Seemingly overnight, Brant and Seymour appeared in a press conference holding hands, claiming they had decided to give their marriage another chance. By the start of 2010, the couple had somehow managed to reconcile and the nasty feud was finally over.
A Much Bigger Problem
To the public eye, Brant and Seymour had somehow managed to save their marriage, but behind closed doors, they were dealing with a much more serious issue. Harry Joseph, their youngest son, was about to celebrate his 16th birthday, and he had taken up modeling from a young age.
This line of work, along with the celebrity status and wealth that came from being Seymour and Brant’s son had Harry living a life of excess. He had access to the most exclusive parties, clubs, cars, friends, and virtually anything he wanted. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t long before he started to develop a serious substance dependency. Seymour quickly realized she had to find help.
Little by Little
Seymour and Brant scoured the country for the best rehab centers and finally found one that suited Harry. After months of treatment and cutting ties with his regular group of friends, things started to get better for the young model. Finally, Harry had completed his time in the rehab program and was ready to go home.
But Seymour and Brant knew things had to be drastically different from before. They made sure Harry focused on his modeling career, which he loved, and kept him away from wild parties and nasty habits. The young Seymour boy seemed to be following in his mother’s footsteps and quickly became one of the most coveted teen models in the industry.
A Bump in the Road
Things at home seemed to finally be improving – Harry was focusing on his career and doing well, Stephanie and Peter were working on their relationship, and their careers were better than ever. And then in the summer of 2016, Seymour started going through some personal issues.
One thing led to another and, one night Seymour decided to go out and blow off some steam, she had a minor accident. Seymour had one too many drinks on her night out and as she was reverse driving her Range Rover onto a ramp, she ran into a street sign. As the police arrived, she was immediately charged with a DUI and given a court date.
Back to Court
The weeks went by, and the media had a feeding frenzy with Seymour’s DUI charge – many media outlets accused her of having a drinking problem, with the infamous “Page Six” calling the model a “hot mess.” Seymour’s court date finally arrived, and she hoped it could be a fast and simple resolution, unlike her other instances in court.
Luckily, the court hearing was resolved quickly, with the judge demanding that Seymour attend regular AA meetings. Seymour humbly accepted and attended all the required meetings for the next few months. Everything went smoothly for the next year, and Seymour and her family seemed to finally be enjoying some peace and quiet.
Model and Entrepreneur
In 2017, Seymour decided to try her luck at another business venture – launching her own exclusive line of lingerie. Being one of the first Victoria’s Secret Angels back in the 90s, Seymour had more than enough experience in lingerie and intimate apparel design, as well as a natural eye for it.
So, with the help of high-end designers, she launched Raven & Sparrow, a luxury lingerie brand that could initially only be found at New York’s famous retail store, Barney’s. The collections were a hit, and the fact that Stephanie and her supermodel friends were the ones modeling the items made it even more popular.
The Cover of Italian Vogue
In 2019, Seymour once again graced the covers of the high-end fashion magazine Vogue. Only this time, it was Italian Vogue, and the cover photos left everyone breathless, as they featured the gorgeous Seymour with barely any clothes on.
There were two covers for the Italian issue of Vogue in the summer of 2014; one featured the model in a bright green, faux fur coat and see-through black pantyhose, and the other showed Seymour... well, wearing much less, though strategically covering herself. Seymour loved the photo shoot and the idea behind the cover, but of course, some fans had different opinions.
The Worst Happened
Stephanie had just finished one of her greatest magazine covers yet at Vogue Italia in 2019; she was 51 years old and looked better than ever. She continued to dazzle in her career and live a happy family life until six days short of her 53rd birthday, on July 17, 2021, her life was shattered. Her and Peter’s son, Harry, who was barely 24 years old, was found dead after a relapse.
It seems that after years of fighting substance dependency with tumultuous ups and downs, Harry ultimately lost the fight. The Seymour-Brant family was in pieces and issued a single public announcement about their unimaginable loss: “Harry achieved a lot in his 24 years, but we will never get the chance to see how much more he could have become.”
The Hardest Part
Needless to say, Harry Brant’s death left many heartbroken, including thousands of friends and colleagues from the fashion world with whom he had worked for years. But for Stephanie, the world suddenly ended, and as the model herself recalls in interviews done years later.
She said that she wouldn’t have gotten out of bed if it wasn’t for her other children who kept her going. There are no words to describe the loss of a child, but Stephanie somehow kept going and after nearly a year of withdrawing from her career and the world at large, she started to come to life again a little at a time.
Always With Her
In an interview in January 2023, Seymour opened up about how her son Harry is always with her. She admitted that she still wears his clothes from time to time just to feel like she has a little part of him with her. “It feels so good to keep his memory alive through his favorite outfits”, explains Seymour.
During the interview with “The Wall Street Journal” magazine, Seymour admitted that the suit she was wearing was Harry’s. She further shared how she decided to pack up Harry’s clothes in large trunks and had an idea to photograph each outfit, saying she thought he would love a project like that, and the women wearing the clothes would love it even more.
Nostalgic Memories
Seymour often recalls how her sons Harry and Peter Jr. were interested in fashion from a very early age. “It was the cutest thing when they were in elementary school,” said Seymour, explaining how they always wanted to choose her outfits for the parent-teacher conferences.
“One time, Harry picked out a baby-blue vintage Dior dress, and I said I can’t wear that to school, to which he immediately replied, “But why not?””, remembers Seymour. The model also revealed that her eldest son, Dylan, named his firstborn son after his late brother, Harry. His memory will undoubtedly live forever in the family's heart.
Slowly but Surely
After a year in hiding, Stephanie slowly started to contact her old friends in the fashion industry and book odd jobs. As the months went by, she picked up the pace, returning to magazine cover photoshoots, running her lingerie company Raven & Sparrow, launching a new swimsuit collection, and dedicating time to her family.
Although she steered clear of the runways, her career was blossoming again, as she now cemented herself and her legacy as one of the greatest supermodels of the 20th century. At 55 years of age, Seymour was still stunning, as was obvious from her “Vanity Fair” magazine cover of September 2023.
She Made Fashion History
Just like there are a handful of supermodels whose names will be remembered for generations to come, the same is true for certain fashion photographers. Back in the '90s, some of the most sought-after photographers were Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Annie Leibovitz, Peter Lindbergh, and of course, Mario Testino.
So when “Vanity Fair” magazine called Seymour to be part of a photoshoot helmed by Testino himself, she was over the moon. The shoot was about an exclusive feature titled “A League of Their Own”, which focused on a handful of supermodels that were making history. The group was comprised of Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Claudia Schiffer.
The Acclaimed Vanity Fair Fashion Issue
The prestigious, high-end fashion magazine “Vanity Fair” released an exclusive fashion issue in September of 2023, and its cover was spectacular. Seymour was featured in one of the issues as a stand-alone cover in a stunning sheer black dress and also appeared on one of the inside pages wearing black lingerie, a large bib necklace covered in gemstones, and opera gloves stamped with the year “1990.”
For the magazine’s main cover, Seymour posed alongside her colleagues, some of the world’s most legendary supermodels, including Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Twiggy, Lauren Hutton, Iman, Paulina Porizkova, and many others.
Awards and Accolades
It’s only logical that a woman with such an impressive trajectory and career legacy be the recipient of numerous accolades and awards. Among the most notable, Seymour was ranked 91 in the American “For Him" magazine in a list of the 100 Sexiest Women of 2000.
The brunette California native was ranked 61 on the "Gents" magazine list of 100 stars of the century. “People" magazine then chose her among their list of 50 most beautiful people in the World. Additionally, apart from modeling for the world’s most prestigious high-couture brands, Seymour became the global spokesmodel for luxury cosmetics company Estee Lauder.
An Active Philanthropist
Aside from being a wonderful mother and wife, having a wildly successful modeling career, and managing profitable business ventures, Seymour is also very active when it comes to philanthropy. The gorgeous model has often said that she feels obligated to share her wealth with the less fortunate in the world.
Seymour supports and is actively involved in several charities and is a fervent advocate for environmental awareness and children’s healthcare. She and her husband, Peter Brandt, also manage the “Brandt Foundation Art Study Center”, founded in 1996. The foundation focuses on promoting the education of contemporary art and design as well as strives to expand access to prestigious artworks and institutions.
The Child Mind Institute
One of Seymour’s biggest charity projects was in 2013 when she and her husband Peter helped raise over $20 million for the nonprofit organization “The Child Mind Institute.” Headquartered in New York City, “The Child Mind Institute” is a well-established organization focused on helping children and their families cope with learning disorders and mental health.
The welfare and care of children has always been a subject close to Seymour’s heart, and thus being actively involved with organizations such as these takes up a big part of her time and dedication. Seymour felt she had been incredibly lucky with her own family and wanted to help those less fortunate.
A Word of Advice
After more than 30 years in the fashion industry, Seymour has seen and lived quite a few experiences, making her more than qualified to dole out some advice to young aspiring models. On many occasions, Seymour has said that the most important thing when it comes to modeling is to know and accept that everybody is different – “it’s very sexy to have your own figure and not look like everybody else.”
She strongly advises against starving oneself to fit into a certain size and to always be confident in one’s own skin. Seymour remembers how Jean Paul Gaultier had to custom-make a bra top and long suede pants right before the runway show because none of the premade outfits fit her. Gaultier encouraged her and said that it is important to be original and not like anyone else.
What’s Next?
After decades in the industry, Stephanie Seymour is still modeling and showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. She looks stunning, has a beautiful family, a happy marriage, and has even become a grandmother. She also heads several business ventures and charities.
At first glance, it might look like this stunning brunette has had a fairytale life, but the truth is she’s had more heartbreak and loss than most around her. However, she’s always managed to bounce back with a smile and keep going, despite the hardships. Hopefully, young models everywhere can adopt her as a role model for perseverance and independence. We can’t wait what this powerhouse of a woman gets up to next.