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00:00They called her the Russian Rapunzel, a girl with storybook beauty and hair that touched her knees.
00:06At 20, she wasn't just walking the runways of Paris and New York.
00:09She was the face of Nina Ricci, the girl British Vogue hailed as a face to be excited about.
00:17But behind the perfect photos was a story no one saw coming,
00:22a story that would end in heartbreak and unanswered questions.
00:27What really happened to Ruslana Korshinova?
00:30And why does her story still haunt the fashion world?
00:34Was it the crushing weight of the industry?
00:36A love affair gone wrong?
00:38A secretive self-help group that promised transformation but left scars?
00:43Or something even darker?
00:46Today, we're pulling back the curtain on the rise and sudden fall of a model the world thought had it all.
00:53To understand her story, we need to go back to the very beginning of her extraordinary life.
00:59Before she became the Russian Rapunzel, Ruslana Korshinova was a bright, ambitious girl,
01:05growing up in Almaty, Kazakhstan, a place worlds away from the glossy pages of Vogue.
01:11Born on July 2nd, 1987, she was the youngest child in a family that valued education and hard work.
01:18Her father, Sergei, served in the Red Army but died when Ruslana was only six,
01:25leaving her mother, Valentina, to raise Ruslana and her siblings alone.
01:30Friends say Valentina was devoted and practical,
01:34and Ruslana inherited that quiet strength, even as her life would take an unimaginable turn.
01:39In school, she stood out not just for her looks, but for her intellect.
01:45She spoke Kazakh, Russian, English, and German, a rare skill set that hinted at a future far from home.
01:52Her dream wasn't modeling, it was studying in Germany.
01:55She was artistic, sensitive, and deeply curious about the world.
01:58In her free time, she learned piano, took voice lessons, and, according to friends,
02:05wrote poems that revealed both a romantic soul and a sharp mind.
02:11The modeling dream?
02:12That came almost by accident.
02:15In 2003, when Ruslana was 15, the head of her school's German club,
02:20where she spent countless afternoons,
02:23asked her to pose for a local magazine called All Asia.
02:27She agreed, maybe thinking it would be a fun memory, nothing more,
02:31but those photos would change her life.
02:34Shot in Almaty's Botanical Gardens, the images were striking.
02:38A teenager with waist-length chestnut hair,
02:40wide-set almond eyes,
02:42and the kind of delicate storybook features you couldn't forget.
02:46She was like clay.
02:48You could do anything with her.
02:51Photographer Boris Bruhl later said,
02:53There was a spark in her eyes,
02:56an innocence,
02:57and something else.
02:59An undeniable presence that even a simple camera lens couldn't hide.
03:03Those images ended up in an in-flight magazine.
03:07On a flight from Almaty to Moscow,
03:10model scout Tatyana Cherednikova
03:12flipped through the magazine,
03:14stopped at Ruslana's picture,
03:16and knew instantly,
03:17This girl could be a star.
03:21Tatyana had scouted countless faces,
03:23but Ruslana felt different,
03:26almost otherworldly.
03:27She tracked down the family,
03:29but Valentina wasn't convinced.
03:31Modeling in her eyes was risky and unstable.
03:35Ruslana was still just a child.
03:37She quoted an old proverb,
03:39A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
03:43Why risk education for a gamble?
03:46But Ruslana had her own ideas
03:48and asked her mom to just give it a try.
03:51Eventually, Valentina relented.
03:53On one condition,
03:54she would accompany Ruslana on her first trip.
03:58By 2004, Ruslana was in London,
04:01signed to Models One.
04:03Debbie Jones, a senior booker,
04:05recalled seeing her photo
04:06and thinking she looked like something out of a fairy tale.
04:09That phrase would follow Ruslana throughout her short life.
04:12With her feline features,
04:14glistening green eyes,
04:15and hair that flowed like liquid gold,
04:18she became the girl everyone wanted in front of their camera.
04:21Her story was the fantasy so many dreamed of,
04:24from a high school classroom in Kazakhstan
04:26to the front rows of fashion's elite.
04:29But fairy tales have shadows.
04:32And Ruslana's was just beginning to creep in.
04:36That shadow didn't fall overnight.
04:37It crept in slowly,
04:40even as Ruslana's star burned brighter than ever.
04:44Within months,
04:45she was no longer the shy girl from Almaty.
04:48She was the industry's newest obsession.
04:50By 2005,
04:52British Vogue had already singled her out
04:54as a face to be excited about.
04:57For any model,
04:58that kind of mention is gold.
05:00For Ruslana,
05:01it was the start of a career that seemed unstoppable.
05:05Within two years,
05:06her resume read like a dream.
05:08She walked for Christian Dior,
05:10Vera Wang,
05:10Kenzo,
05:11and fronted major campaigns for DKNY and Nina Ricci,
05:15a fragrance ad that would cement her image in the public eye.
05:19In that campaign,
05:20Ruslana appeared ethereal.
05:22Pale skin,
05:24luminous green eyes,
05:25hair cascading like molten gold as she held a crystal apple.
05:29It didn't just sell perfume.
05:31It sold a fantasy,
05:33the dream of effortless beauty.
05:35Print loved her just as much as the runway.
05:38She appeared on the covers of French L,
05:40Russian Vogue,
05:41and in 2006,
05:43one of her most haunting editorials,
05:45Vogue Italia's Broken Dolls cover.
05:48A stark,
05:49almost prophetic shoot
05:50that critics now revisit with unease.
05:53And then,
05:54there was the nickname.
05:57The press called her the Russian Rapunzel,
05:59a nod to her knee-length hair,
06:01which became both her trademark
06:03and her prison.
06:05At first,
06:05it was flattering,
06:07a fairytale moniker for a fairytale face.
06:10But in fashion,
06:11what makes you stand out
06:12can also keep you trapped.
06:14Reinvention is the currency of survival.
06:17And Ruslana's brand was rooted in one thing.
06:20Innocence.
06:22The moment she stepped outside that frame,
06:25the illusion cracked.
06:26It's important to remember the era she dominated.
06:30The mid-2000s were obsessed with a very specific ideal.
06:34Waif-like frames,
06:36porcelain skin,
06:37and an almost alien delicacy.
06:41Casting directors wanted otherworldly beauty,
06:44and agencies scoured Eastern Europe for it.
06:47Ruslana wasn't just part of that wave.
06:49She was its perfect embodiment.
06:52But value in fashion is conditional.
06:55One season,
06:56you're the darling of designers.
06:58The next,
06:59you're a forgotten face.
07:01For Ruslana,
07:03the pace was brutal.
07:04Weeks blurred into months of travel,
07:07London,
07:07Paris,
07:08New York,
07:08back to Moscow.
07:10Former boyfriends would later describe her as
07:12always tired,
07:14always on the go,
07:16shuttling between castings,
07:18fittings,
07:18and endless shoots.
07:20From the outside,
07:21it looked flawless,
07:23but her blog entries hinted at something darker,
07:26a quiet unraveling beneath the surface.
07:30What read like poetic fragments to strangers
07:32revealed an undertone of exhaustion,
07:35heartbreak,
07:36and a growing sense that she was losing control
07:38of her own life.
07:40In an industry that demands constant reinvention,
07:44Ruslana seemed desperate to hold on to something solid,
07:46something real.
07:48Friends later said she was nothing like
07:49the hardened stereotype people imagine
07:51when they think of models.
07:53She wasn't a party girl.
07:55She was sensitive,
07:56idealistic,
07:58the kind of person who took rejection personally
07:59and heartbreak even harder.
08:02Until she moved to Paris,
08:04she had never even washed her own hair.
08:06Her mother always did it for her.
08:08That small detail speaks volumes.
08:11Behind the Vogue covers
08:12and the luxury campaigns
08:13was a young woman still tethered to home,
08:15still learning how to navigate life
08:17without the people who made her feel safe.
08:20By 2007,
08:22her portfolio was enviable.
08:24Top designers,
08:25global campaigns,
08:27and magazine covers most models dream about.
08:30She was sending money home,
08:32supporting her family,
08:33and living in Manhattan's financial district.
08:36But beneath the success,
08:38something was changing.
08:39Fashion's obsession with novelty
08:41meant even a 20-year-old
08:43could feel obsolete.
08:45New faces were flooding in,
08:47and the bookings that once seemed guaranteed
08:49started to slow.
08:51For someone who built her sense of identity
08:53on beauty, work, and control,
08:55that uncertainty was devastating.
08:58She needed something,
08:59anything,
09:00that could restore her sense of purpose.
09:02What she found promised transformation,
09:05clarity,
09:06even salvation.
09:08Instead,
09:09it would lead her into darkness.
09:12What Ruslana found
09:13wasn't the comfort of home
09:15or a new passion for life.
09:18It was a movement,
09:20a so-called self-improvement group,
09:23that promised transformation.
09:25To some, it sounded like therapy.
09:27To others,
09:28it looked like something far more dangerous.
09:32It was called Rose of the World.
09:35On the surface,
09:36it marketed itself
09:37as a path to clarity,
09:39a way to perfect yourself
09:40and live more effectively.
09:43In reality,
09:44critics and former members
09:46describe something closer to a cult,
09:48an organization rooted
09:50in aggressive psychological training,
09:53descended from controversial programs
09:55like Lifespring in the U.S.,
09:57which had been linked
09:58to mental breakdowns
09:59and even deaths
10:00before being banned.
10:02According to journalist
10:03Peter Pomerantsev,
10:04who investigated the group for years
10:06and later wrote a book about it,
10:08Rose of the World
10:09drew in people
10:09at their most vulnerable.
10:12Ruslana fit the pattern.
10:14By 2007,
10:15she was worn down
10:16by constant travel,
10:17a slowing career,
10:19and personal heartbreak.
10:21She had been deeply in love
10:22with a wealthy Russian businessman,
10:24a man her friends described
10:26as charismatic,
10:27handsome,
10:28and unattainable.
10:29For a time,
10:31Ruslana believed
10:31they would marry.
10:33She even brought him home
10:34to meet her mother.
10:35And then,
10:36without warning,
10:37it ended.
10:38Friends said the breakup shattered her.
10:41She couldn't understand it,
10:43one friend recalled.
10:44She wanted marriage,
10:45children,
10:46a steady home,
10:47and he promised her all of it.
10:48When he walked away,
10:51he didn't just break her heart.
10:53He broke the sense of stability
10:55she had been clinging to.
10:57Her blog entries grew darker,
11:00fragments about love
11:01dying too soon,
11:02about castles of pink dreams
11:04collapsing into rubble.
11:06One haunting post read,
11:09It feels as if someone
11:10tore out my heart
11:11and trot all over it.
11:13It was during this period
11:14of emotional freefall
11:15that Ruslana became involved
11:17with Rose of the World.
11:18What began as a three-day
11:20training in Moscow
11:22turned into a consuming routine.
11:25Sessions cost more than $300 a day,
11:28a steep price,
11:30even for someone
11:30in Ruslana's position.
11:32The promise was self-mastery.
11:35The reality,
11:36according to Pomerantsev,
11:37was something closer
11:38to humiliation
11:39disguised as healing.
11:42Members were instructed
11:42to confess their deepest traumas
11:44in front of a crowd.
11:46They were told their failures
11:47were their own fault.
11:48That they were not victims,
11:50but weak.
11:52In one session,
11:54as lights blazed
11:55and music pounded,
11:57the group chanted in unison,
11:59breaking down the defenses
12:00of whoever stood on stage.
12:01That's normal,
12:04one senior member
12:05told Pomerantsev
12:06when asked about the breakdowns.
12:09We call it a rollback.
12:11You have to go through that
12:12to grow.
12:13Ruslana returned
12:14from these trainings changed.
12:16Friends noticed
12:17a sharper edge
12:17to her mood.
12:19She swore more,
12:20lashed out more easily,
12:21and seemed increasingly agitated
12:23with herself.
12:24She started blaming herself
12:27for everything,
12:29one acquaintance told reporters.
12:31If a shoot went badly,
12:32she spiraled.
12:34If a relationship faltered,
12:35she believed it was her fault.
12:37And yet,
12:38she kept going back.
12:40Perhaps because,
12:41like many before her,
12:43she believed the process
12:44could fix what felt broken.
12:46She even tried to recruit friends
12:48who refused.
12:50When they didn't join,
12:51the pressure on Ruslana
12:52to bring in new members
12:53reportedly mounted.
12:56In these groups,
12:57failure is not an option.
13:00And for someone
13:01already struggling with rejection,
13:03that pressure could be crushing.
13:06Meanwhile,
13:06there were other shadows
13:08in the background,
13:09rumors that would only surface
13:11years later.
13:13Court documents unsealed
13:14in 2024
13:15placed Ruslana
13:16on Jeffrey Epstein's
13:17flight logs
13:18in June 2006,
13:20when she was just 18.
13:22She reportedly flew
13:23on his private jet,
13:24along with his assistant,
13:26chef,
13:27and bodyguard.
13:28What happened
13:29after the plane landed
13:31remains unclear.
13:33There's no proof
13:34of misconduct
13:35involving Ruslana specifically,
13:37but the connection
13:38is disturbing in hindsight.
13:40Another reminder
13:41of the predatory forces
13:42circling the industry
13:43she worked in.
13:45By early 2008,
13:47Ruslana was living
13:48in New York's
13:48financial district,
13:50in a sleek apartment
13:51worlds away from Almaty.
13:53But those closest to her
13:54sensed the glamour
13:55was just a facade.
13:56Her career had slowed.
13:58A new wave of models,
14:00tanned,
14:01athletic,
14:01and overtly sensual,
14:03was replacing the delicate,
14:05doll-like look
14:06that made her famous.
14:07At only 20,
14:09she felt her time
14:09slipping away.
14:11And then,
14:12there was the isolation.
14:13her family was thousands
14:15of miles away.
14:16Her romantic life
14:18was in ruins.
14:19She'd burned through money
14:20on courses that promised
14:21enlightenment,
14:22but left her feeling
14:23even more fractured.
14:25The most important thing
14:26about her,
14:28her so-called life coach
14:29later admitted,
14:29was that she was lonely.
14:32There was no one
14:33who was really dear to her,
14:34except for her mother.
14:36Still,
14:37Ruslana kept moving forward.
14:39Or at least,
14:40that's how it looked.
14:41She was booking campaigns,
14:43walking into studios,
14:45keeping up appearances.
14:46Three days before
14:47her 21st birthday,
14:49she wrapped a shoot
14:49for Neiman Marcus
14:50in New York.
14:52She was due to fly to Texas
14:53for another job.
14:54On the evening
14:55of June 27th,
14:57she watched the film
14:58Ghost with an ex-boyfriend,
15:00read poetry,
15:01and spoke about plans
15:02for the weekend.
15:03It sounded ordinary,
15:06comforting even,
15:07but the following day
15:08would shatter
15:09any illusion of normalcy.
15:12The timeline
15:12of her final hours
15:13still raises more questions
15:14than answers.
15:16The next day
15:17was supposed to be simple.
15:18A few errands,
15:20maybe a call home,
15:22than a flight to Texas
15:23for the second leg
15:24of her Neiman Marcus shoot.
15:26Her birthday
15:27was just three days away,
15:29but June 28th, 2008
15:31would become the day
15:32Ruslana's story
15:33stopped making sense.
15:36That Saturday,
15:37the financial district
15:38was still.
15:40The kind of quiet Manhattan
15:41only gets
15:42on a hot summer weekend.
15:44Outside her
15:45Water Street apartment,
15:46construction crews
15:47moved behind
15:48orange safety netting.
15:50Inside,
15:51Ruslana was alone.
15:53At 2.30 in the afternoon,
15:56the silence broke
15:57with a sound
15:57that no one could mistake,
16:00a body hitting the pavement.
16:01She had fallen
16:02from her ninth floor balcony.
16:05Police ruled it
16:05almost immediately.
16:07No signs of struggle,
16:08no alcohol or drugs,
16:09no note.
16:10The case was labeled
16:11a suicide.
16:12But if you dig
16:13into the details,
16:14the story starts
16:15to fracture.
16:17Ruslana was terrified
16:18of heights.
16:19Her ex-boyfriend
16:20told the press
16:21she wouldn't even stand
16:22near a balcony railing,
16:23much less lean over one.
16:25More unsettling
16:27was her appearance.
16:28The Rapunzel hair
16:29that had defined her career,
16:31that had made her millions
16:32and earned her a nickname,
16:33was gone,
16:34cut short
16:35and uneven,
16:36as if hacked off
16:37in haste.
16:39Inside her apartment,
16:41investigators found
16:42no chaos,
16:43no signs of a woman
16:44in crisis.
16:46Fresh linens
16:46were folded
16:47were folded
16:47on the bed.
16:48Books sat
16:49stacked neatly
16:50on the floor.
16:52A plane ticket
16:52to Texas
16:53lay ready
16:53for her next assignment.
16:55This wasn't
16:55the frozen tableau
16:56of despair
16:57that suicide scenes
16:58typically reveal.
16:59It looked like
17:00a life still
17:01moving forward.
17:03And yet,
17:03in the weeks
17:04leading up to that day,
17:05Ruslana's life
17:06was fraying
17:07in ways few could see.
17:09Her blog posts
17:10were fragments
17:11of something darker,
17:13grief dressed as poetry.
17:14It hurts
17:16as if someone
17:17took a part of me,
17:19mercilessly tore it out,
17:20stomped all over it.
17:23Another read simply,
17:24I'm so lost,
17:26will I ever find myself?
17:29Behind those words
17:30was a storm
17:30she rarely spoke aloud,
17:32the pressure
17:33of an industry
17:34that crowns you
17:35one season
17:35and discards you
17:36the next,
17:37a breakup
17:38that shattered
17:39her trust
17:40and the grip
17:41of Rose of the World,
17:43the so-called
17:44training program
17:45that promised empowerment
17:46but thrived
17:48on control.
17:50Former members
17:51described its methods
17:52as brutal,
17:53public humiliation,
17:55emotional domination,
17:57relentless demands
17:57to recruit others.
18:00Friends say
18:00Ruslana was deeply affected,
18:02more withdrawn,
18:03more self-critical
18:04and increasingly isolated.
18:06And she wasn't
18:07the only one.
18:08Less than a year later,
18:10another model
18:11tied to the same program,
18:12Anastasia Drozdova,
18:13would die
18:14in eerily similar circumstances.
18:17Two women,
18:18one circle
18:18and a trail of questions
18:20that no one
18:20has fully answered.
18:22Officially,
18:23the case was ruled
18:23a suicide.
18:24But her family
18:25refused to believe
18:26it was that simple.
18:28In an interview,
18:29her mother said,
18:29she insisted the evidence
18:33didn't add up.
18:35No security footage
18:36from a financial district
18:37high-rise in broad daylight.
18:38No eyewitnesses.
18:41And according to her,
18:42a Ukrainian forensic expert
18:44reviewed the injuries
18:45and concluded
18:45they could have come
18:46from a car impact,
18:47not a fall.
18:48Was it despair?
19:10Was it something else entirely?
19:13With every answer
19:14came more questions.
19:16Questions that still
19:17haunt the people
19:18who knew her best.
19:20News of Ruslana's death
19:21spread fast.
19:23And so did the speculation.
19:26Headlines painted her
19:27as another tragic figure
19:28in a world
19:28obsessed with beauty
19:30and youth.
19:31But the truth
19:32was far messier,
19:34tangled in a web
19:35of unanswered questions
19:36and contradictions.
19:36Friends and family
19:39pushed back.
19:40They remembered
19:41a young woman
19:41making plans.
19:43To keep working,
19:45to study,
19:46to build something
19:47outside of the catwalk.
19:49She had money
19:50in the bank
19:51and despite moments
19:52of loneliness,
19:53people who believed
19:54she had a future.
19:56But the world
19:56didn't want nuance.
19:58It wanted
19:59a cautionary tale.
20:01What makes
20:01Ruslana's case
20:02even more haunting
20:03is how easily
20:03it was buried.
20:05Police closed it quickly.
20:06The press moved on.
20:08And yet,
20:0915 years later,
20:10her face still lingers
20:11in fashion's archives
20:13on the cover
20:14of Russian Vogue
20:15in that Nina Ricci ad
20:16that once promised
20:17a fantasy.
20:19She became immortal
20:20in the way fashion
20:22makes women immortal
20:23by freezing them in time,
20:25perfect and silent.
20:27But perfection
20:28is a dangerous illusion.
20:31It hides the cost,
20:32the control,
20:33the silence
20:34that defines
20:35so much of this industry.
20:36And that's why
20:38Ruslana's story
20:39still matters.
20:40Not because it was shocking,
20:42but because it wasn't.
20:44Behind every
20:45flawless campaign
20:46is a person
20:47navigating
20:48an impossible standard
20:49in an environment
20:51that too often
20:52confuses value
20:53with youth,
20:54obedience,
20:55and fragility.
20:57And maybe that's
20:58the hardest truth
20:59to face,
21:00that behind
21:01the illusion of beauty,
21:02the cost was always higher
21:04than anyone
21:05wanted to admit.
21:07Fifteen years later,
21:09one question
21:10still lingers.
21:12What really happened
21:13to Ruslana Korshinova?
21:15And what does it say
21:17about the industry
21:17that shaped her,
21:19celebrated her,
21:20and then forgot her?
21:21And yes,
21:22I think
21:23over to it.
21:23But
21:23what does it say
21:24was able to
21:24prepare the
21:42as well as the
21:43ordinary
21:44or the
21:46building
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