Petra Němcová (1979 – )

Petra Němcová was born in 1979 in Karviná, Czechoslovakia and is a Czech model, TV host, author, philanthropist and founder / chair of Happy Hearts Fund. She was raised in the Moravian – Silesian area of Czechoslovakia by her mother, a teacher and her father, a mason and became a model when she was 16 when she was spotted during a national talent search. She graced the cover of the 2004 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and continued to appear in the 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 issues and has also modeled for Victoria’s Secret, Cartier and Max Factor. Tragedy struck Petra Němcová in 2004 as she was in Thailand during the disastrous Tsunami of 2004 where her fiancé Simon Atlee, who was also her main photographer, drowned. Petra Němcová broke her pelvis bone and suffered internal injuries; she survived by holding on to the top of a palm tree for 8 hours until Thai officials found her. She was in the hospital for 6 weeks. After such a heartbreaking and difficult recovery Petra Němcová started to move on by founding the Happy Hearts Fund, a charity that started off by helping children affected by the tsunami but also assissted children after the 2007 Peru earthquake. She continues to model and most importantly runs the Happy Hearts Fund.