Yasmin Le Bon: International Top Model and Wife of the Vocalist of
Duran Duran
Semana Grafica June 1992
interview: unknown
translation: Sadira
Daughter
of an Iranian father and European mother, she is one of the most beautiful
women in the world.
Mother of two daughters, Amber Rose, 2 1/2 years old, and Saffron, 8 months, laments that her profession does not permit her to dedicate herself more to her home.
The beautiful and much in demand top-model Yasmin Le Bon, wife of British singer Simon Le Bon, of the musical group Duran Duran, passed like lightning through Barcelona to attend a reception that the elite club Up and Down organized in her honour. Attired in an elegant white dress that showed off her well-maintained figure, she displayed her best qualities: her sense of humour and her unpretentiousness.
Yasmin, it is said that photographs are incapable of capturing your "exquisite" countenance... Is your beauty your best "weapon" of seduction?
"About 20% of my success is based on beauty, and 80% on my intelligence and my way of handling this profession. If it were not so, my career would have been quite short, because, for everyone, the years keep advancing. In this way, I think I manage to stay on top of my field."
Your husband has expressed on more than one occasion that your beauty stems "from the flame that burns inside you"...
"Simon is a good husband. In reality my looks are a mix of Iranian blood, from my father, and European, from my mother."
What do you think is your best quality as a model?
"The desire to work and a good character. It's funny, because when I work I get so relaxed and I aim to create an atmosphere that is so relaxed that everyone wants me for other sessions."
Aren't you above all a photogenic woman?
"No... actually, I am not photogenic. What happens is that I concentrate very much on the work and I always have someone I trust in the crew."
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
"I'll never forget that day, while visiting a friend I saw her photograph. Yasmin won me over completely. She has the most marvellous smile in the world." These were the words that Simon Le Bon spoke when recalling the first time he saw a photograph of the woman who would become his wife.
How did love blossom between you?
"Simon had this idea that I was the ideal woman for him. Apparently, he wrote my name on a piece of paper and kept it with him until he got up to asking his 'manager' to phone me days later. We saw each other on repeated occasions as friends, until we could no longer deny it. And it's because deep down ours was really love at first sight."
Six months later, on the 27th of December, on a romantic night of the full moon, they married under the fullest anonymity. In that way, the happy couple realized the attractive Yasmin's dream, to marry on the day of her birth so that "the stars in the heavens would protect the union," according to her own words.
Yasmin, do you continue to be as in love after seven years of marriage?
"Now we are much more in love...because at first our relationship was latent, passionate... and the love we feel now is more profound and conscientious."
Is it difficult to maintain both a career and family?
"Yes, it's quite complicated. I have to be away from home quite a lot and I am never able to spend enough time with my loved ones.In any case, I was already a model when I started a family with Simon, and for the time being it has been a situation we have tried to resolve in the best possible way."
Two beautiful girls, Amber Rose, who is actually 2 1/2 years old,
and Saffron, of 8 months, fill the home of Yasmin and Simon Le Bon with
happiness and joy.
Explain to us the mystery as to how a couple as busy as yourselves can care for children.
"Well, we have family living with us in our home, with our children. They are in good hands, so in that sense it is not a problem at all."
MY HUSBAND IS TIRED OF CHANGING NAPPIES.
Yasmin assures us that Simon is an authentic father-figure. "He has a strong and jovial spirit which is being passed on to our daughters," she commented.
Which of the two spends more time with Amber Rose and Saffron?
"Possibly Simon spends more time at home with the girls. Now he is beginning to get tired of changing nappies, and that's considering that I've always done it. He is a model father, he keeps track of everything."
Are you partial to larger families?
"I am, but Simon is not. I come from a family of merely two children and I have always believed a house full of children would be wonderful."
At the moment, two girls. Do you think you will be trying for a boy?
"It is possible that in about two years Simon and I will decide. Right now we have too many debts to pay. I have stopped working for a long time and it's getting to be time I start again. About the boy, I will tell you that I find nothing more noble than a world full of girls."
Who do your daughters look like - Simon or you?
"Amber Rose and Saffron are exactly like Simon. If we have a boy, I'm sure he'll look like me!"
At 27 years of age, Yasmin Le Bon is a woman full of vitality and optimism. She assures us she has no secrets to maintain her form, other than a balanced diet. She has not thought about retiring and plans on forging ahead as much as she can. Lover of freedom and of independence, she fights to not lose everything personal and natural that is within her. "Because it's when you're at the top that it is most difficult to be yourself."