Childhood & Early Life
Bar Refaeli was born on June 4, 1985 in Hod HaSharon, Israel, to Jewish parents, Rafi and Tzipi.
Interestingly, her mother was also into the same business – a reigning model during the 1970s, popularly known as Tzipi Levine.
She entered the modeling world as an infant when she was just eight months, shooting for commercial ads.
She stopped modeling during her early childhood years due to her braces and was able to resume serious modeling only when she turned 15.
In 2000, she participated in the Israeli beauty pageant and was crowned ‘Model of the Year’, which proved an important milestone in her rising career.
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Career
In 2000, she was signed by Irene Marie Models and appeared in ad campaigns for known brands, Castro and Pipel. She featured in the dairy product Milky’s commercial, later that year.
She became the home model for Renuar fashion channel and featured in its summer 2002 and winter 2003 catalogs.
She debuted on television in 2005 with the Israeli drama series, ‘Pick Up’.
She went viral in the fashion industry by the age of 20, when she became a cover model for magazines – French Elle, Italian GQ, Cosmopolitan, and Maxim, in 2006.
She supports the non-profit organization, Project Sunshine, which offers free services and programs to children suffering from critical diseases. In 2006, she supported Ahava, which attended pets dumped during the 2006 Lebanon War.
She was a co-host of the Bravo special program ‘Tommy Hilfiger Presents Ironic Ironic America’, based on a book of the same name, in 2008, and a program host of the 2009 revival series of ‘House of Style’ on MTV channel.
In 2009, she became the new face of Rampage and shot an ad campaign for its fall collection, under world famous photographer Gilles Bensimon.
She was chosen as the brand ambassador of clothing line Hurley and Diddy cologne in 2008, followed by stepping in as the spokesmodel for Garnier International in 2009.
She has appeared in commercials promoting Morellato watches and jewelry for its launch of 2009/2010 range.
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She debuted in movies with the Haim Bouzaglo directed American-Israeli psychological thriller ‘Session’, in 2011.
In 2011, she launched an online company, Under.me, selling designer underwear, partnered with Dudi Balsar, a former model and attorney.
She appeared as a guest judge on Heidi Klum-hosted show ‘Germany’s Next Topmodel’. Inspired by the same, she launched her own show ‘Million Dollar Shootingstar’ in November 2012, broadcast on German channel, Sat 1.
In 2013, she starred in the French-Israeli film ‘Kidon’, a crime-caper comedy, where she essayed the role of a Mossad assassin.
She has been the face of the fashion brand, Luisa Cerano, and lingerie brand, Passionata, and appeared in various ad campaigns promoting its new collection.
She has appeared in ad campaigns for several fashion brands, such as Escada, Gap, Arrow, True Religion, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Samsung, Fox, Agua Bendita, Andrew Marc, Victoria’s Secret, Marks & Spencer, Reebok, and Sears.
She has walked the ramp for a variety of fashion heavyweights, including Accessorize, Italian jewelry line Marco Bicego, Subaru, and Brazilian clothing line Besni.
She has featured on a variety of international magazine covers, some of which are Marie Claire, Elle, Glamour, GQ, Maxim, Madame Figaro, Zalando Magazine, Lepota & Zdravlje, Cosmopolitan, F, DTLux and Harper’s Bazaar.
She has made appearances in several editorials, like Harper’s Bazaar Australia, GQ Germany, Maxim USA, Elle Spain, Marie Claire Russia, GQ Italy, Grazia France, Elle Russia, L’Officiel France, Esquire USA, and Vanity Fair Italy.
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Apart from her mother agency One Management, she has also worked for Marilyn Agency (Paris), Premier Model Management (London), Uno Models (Barcelona), Model Management (Hamburg), and MP Management (Milan).
Personal Life & Legacy
She is known to have been in a romantic relationship with many high-profile men, including English musician Mick Jagger, Baywatch actor David Charvet, and actor Uri El-Natan.
She got into a relationship with Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio in 2005, after they met at a party in Las Vegas. But, they broke off in June 2009, only to rekindle their romance in 2010, but officially announced their split in May 2011.
She met Israeli businessman Adi Ezra in July 2012, through mutual friends, and started off immediately. The couple moved into a Tel Aviv apartment together after several months. Recently, the two have announced to tie the knot.
