Nena von Schlebrügge- Supermodel, Mother of Uma Thurman

In this family noble beauty is transmitted from generation to generation. Uma Thurman was named after a Hindu goddess and inherited a refined grace from her ancestors. Her grandmother Birgit Holmqvist posed nude for the famous sculptor Axel Ebbe for the statue of "Embrace," depicting a nude diva. Nowadays, this beautiful 1930s statue meets ships in the port of a small cape at the southernmost point of the Scandinavian Peninsula. Uma's mother, Nena von Schlebrügge, was a supermodel and actress in 50-60s.

Brigitte Caroline, was born in Mexico in the family of the Swedish beauty Birgit Holmqvist and the German aristocrat Friedrich Karl von Schlebrugge. People close to her, called her Nena. Her beautiful looks she inherited from her mother, from her father - an aristocratic charm. In the mid-fifties, the famous photographer of Vogue went on business to the Swedish capital, where he accidentally saw Nenu. She was only 14 years old. This meeting marked the beginning of the model career for Nena. Few years later, Nena was invited to London, where she became one of the stars in the world of haute couture. Her popularity soared very quickly, the Swedish beauty signed a contract with the American Ford Models agency. She worked with the magazines like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, she collaborated with best photographers: Norman Parkinson, Richard Avedon, Bert Stern and William Klein.

The refined beauty of Nena inspired many photographers and contemporary artists. It is said that the girl became a muse for the great Salvador Dali, who in 1963 introduced the already well-known beauty to the time with the psychiatrist Timothy Leary, who became famous for his work in the field of psychedelics on the nervous system. The marriage of Timothy and Nena took place in the cottage of billionaire William Hitchcock, who kindly provided his apartment to a psychiatric friend.

The wedding ceremony was rather erratic, - it was captured in a black and white film by the documentary writer Peennebaker. But even here Nena appears before the viewers as Venus, descended from the canvases of Botticelli, fragile, tender and feminine.

In 1965, Nena filed for divorce, and two years later remarried. Her chosen one was Robert Thurman, the first American to be tonsured in Buddhist monks personally by the Dalai Lama. It was a marriage consecrated by someone upstairs, - merged together two harmonious souls, who to this day live in peace and harmony and bear the divine light of kindness to people. Their son Handen was born.

Despite the difficult time of motherhood, Nena continued to climb the career ladder and even managed to star in the film Eddie Sedgwick "Chao, Manhattan." The picture was published only four years after the creation, but the episodes with Nena from the final version, unfortunately, were cut.

In 1970, a happy couple welcomed daughter Uma, whose name means "giving bliss." It is then Nena decided to leave the modeling career and give herself to the family. In addition, she was so enthusiastic about her husband's ideas that she too was carried away by the active promotion of Buddhism in the States and even became a certified psychologist. In the late 80's von Schlesbrugge was the director of the New York Open Center, and in subsequent years began to head the branch of the Tibetan House in the United States.

Today, Nena is the executive director of the Menla Mountain Retreat Center for Tibetan Medicine and is proud of her talented and successful children with unique names associated with the oldest Buddhist philosophy - Handen, Uma, Dechen, Mipam. And she still remains the same aristocratic beauty and, simply, a happy woman!