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Birth country: Somalia
One of 12 children
born to desert nomads, Waris escaped being sold into marriage for
five camels at the age of 13 by running away to London, where she
worked as her uncle's maid. There she taught herself to read and write,
and five years later got her big break when a photographer spotted
her working in a fast food restaurant. Soon she was gracing catwalks
and magazine covers, and even appeared in the 1987 Bond film The Living
Daylights.
A decade on, Waris, whose
name means "desert flower" in her native tongue, left
modelling to campaign for the UN against female circumcision, having
been a victim of the process herself aged five. She recorded her
extraordinary journey in a best-selling autobiography, Desert Flower,
along with its sequel Desert Dawn, and hasn't looked back since
leaving the profession. "I can enjoy anywhere, and I can leave
it," she says. "Life is about moving on."
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