Katherine "Kate" Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is an English model. She went to Riddlesdown high school. She has appeared on over 300 magazine covers. She is known for her waifish figure, uncommonly short height for a fashion model, and appearances in many advertising campaigns. She is also notorious for her high-profile relationships and party lifestyle. In 2007, she came 2nd on the Forbes top-earning models list, estimated to have earned $9 million in one year.Early life:
Moss was born in Addiscombe, Croydon, London to Linda Rosina (Shepherd), a barmaid, and Peter Edward Moss, a travel agent. Kate has a younger brother named Mick and a half-sister and half-brother. Moss's parents divorced when she was 13. She attended Ridgeway Primary School and Riddlesdown High School in Purley. She was not particularly noted for her academic success, although she did excel at sports. According to Fred Vermorel's Addicted to Love: Kate Moss, "Out of eight GCSEs she scraped through with one C (in Science) and all the rest were Ds, Es and Fs".
Personal life:Kate Moss has a daughter, Lila Grace Moss, born on 29 September 2002, with Dazed & Confused editor Jefferson Hack. She is also godmother to the two sons of The Clash member Paul Simonon and to Iris Law, the daughter of Sadie Frost and Jude Law. She is also close friends with British pop singer Lily Allen. During the 1990s, she had relationships with Mario Sorrenti and Johnny Depp.
Moss has long been linked romantically with former Libertines member Pete Doherty, first meeting him at her 31st birthday party in January 2005. On 11 April 2007, Doherty announced Moss as his fiancée during one of his concerts in London, at which Moss also performed. Doherty planned to marry Moss during the summer of 2007. However, in July 2007 Moss and Doherty split. A removal van arrived to take away Doherty's possessions from Moss's home after they had a series of rows and arguments. Doherty is reported to have said, "It's like living with a fucking stalker." Moss had also changed the locks to the gates allowing access into her house. She was due to model on the catwalk for John Galliano with Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Lily Cole and Gisele Bündchen but was too distraught with her break-up to participate.
Moss currently lives with her daughter Lila in a £9 million townhouse in St John's Wood, North London. Tabloids and gossip magazines frequently report on her status, and since Doherty, Moss has been dating Jamie Hince, guitarist for The Kills. The Sun reported on 26 March 2008, that Moss was due to marry Hince after becoming engaged during a trip to Amsterdam; however, various other British tabloids reported that the Sun article was false. On 22 April 2009, Lillian Berlin of American band Living Things said in an interview that Moss had slept with his brother and band-mate Eve Berlin in June 2008, during the time she was dating Hince. In an appearance on the Howard Stern Show on April 26, 2010, Courtney Love strongly implied that Moss had chased her around the room and bed and had intercourse with her, and that all of Love's lady friends in London had also had relations with Moss.
Cocaine scandal:British tabloids and the paparazzi, particularly the Daily Mirror, have long claimed that Moss habitually used cocaine. In interviews, Moss dismissed these claims as ridiculous, and the Sunday Mirror was sued successfully by Moss for claiming that she had slipped into a coma after taking large amounts of cocaine in Spain in the 1990s.
On 15 September 2005, the Daily Mirror ran front page and inside photos that seemed to show Moss snorting several lines of a white powder that was presumed to be cocaine at a Babyshambles recording session. It was also reported that Moss snorted five lines in 40 minutes. It has been alleged by Babyshambles' singer Pete Doherty that James Mullord, his former manager, sold the photos to the newspaper for more than £150,000. Within a short time of publication, Moss lost major modelling contracts with several international companies.
On 20 September 2005, the Swedish fashion retailer H&M, which had intended to feature her in a campaign of their autumn clothes range designed by Moss's good friend Stella McCartney, announced instead that it was dropping Moss after the drug allegations. The contract was reportedly worth £4 million a year. A day later, Chanel announced that it would not be renewing its contract with Moss, which was set to expire that October, although the company said that its decision had nothing to do with the drug scandal. Burberry also decided to drop Moss's campaign with them. Moss quickly issued an apology, though she stopped short of admitting drug use. "I take full responsibility for my actions. I also accept that there are various personal issues that I need to address and have started taking the difficult, yet necessary, steps to resolve them," she said. "I want to apologise to all of the people I have let down because of my behaviour, which has reflected badly on my family, friends, co-workers, business associates and others."
Moss continued to appear in major ad campaigns during this period for Dior. She was on the cover of the November 2005 W and also appeared inside in a multi-page fashion shoot. She was also defended by friends and supporters, including models Naomi Campbell and Helena Christensen, French actress Catherine Deneuve, her ex-boyfriend Johnny Depp, and designer Alexander McQueen. McQueen's defence was especially notable, and during his walk-out after a fashion show he wore a t-shirt saying "We love you Kate".
Artist Stella Vine also publicly supported Moss, and paintings by Vine of the model, painted during the scandal, were exhibited and reproduced in the press. Vine defended Moss, saying to The Independent: "I had been painting Kate Moss for a long time, both before the time of her crisis and during it. I felt very strongly for her - she's a hard-working mum and it seemed as if suddenly the world turned against her." Vine's large paintings of Moss include Holy water cannot help you now (2005) and Kate unfinished (2005), whilst another had the slogan Must be the season of the witch across it in red paint. Vine compared the supermodel to Mona Lisa and said, "There's a bravery in Kate's eyes and I love her for that." Vine felt the media should not have accused Moss of being a bad mother, arguing that "men can go off and take as many drugs as they want, have as many children as they want, and their parenting rarely comes into question". A Vine painting of Moss was bought by Alexander McQueen.Pop singer Robbie Williams said of Moss's relationship with Doherty, "I can understand why Kate finds it difficult to leave Pete; he has a certain charisma surrounding him." In November 2005, Moss ended her relationship with Doherty soon after he checked himself out of Meadows Clinic in Arizona, failing to complete a programme for drug rehabilitation. Moss herself underwent successful treatment there in October and had urged Doherty to seek the same treatment himself. Doherty claims that their separation involved other issues, telling the The Sun newspaper that Moss left him because, "I can’t buy her diamonds." On 5 January 2006, the Metropolitan Police asked Moss to return from the US to Britain to answer questions about the September 2005 cocaine scandal. The following day, the Daily Mirror reported that Moss would return to Britain and face arrest for allegations of cocaine usage. She was interviewed by police in London on 31 January 2006, with her solicitor present, but reportedly made no admissions, and she was not arrested (photographs of alleged drug-taking are not admissible evidence in English courts). On 16 June 2006, British police finally dropped the charges for lack of evidence. Ultimately, Moss was cleared of all charges and resumed her modelling career. Criticism of Moss has, however, continued, and her career revival has been viewed as a sign of moral and cultural decline by conservatives such as Peter Hitchens.
Gold statue:
In 2008, it was reported that a £1.5m ($2.8m) 100% gold statue had been made of supermodel Kate Moss as part of a British Museum exhibition. Entitled Siren, the 50 kg (110 lb) hollow statue was made by Marc Quinn, who described Moss as "the ideal beauty of the moment". The statue is said to be the largest gold statue to be created since the era of Ancient Egypt.
