Ruslana Korshunova was a model known as the “Russian Rapunzel” for her long cascading locks and ethereal good looks. The 5′8 beauty was on the front covers of Elle and Vogue, and lived in a world of glamour and money.
Despite all this, she was terribly depressed and committed suicide in June of 2008, four days before her 21st birthday, falling to death from her ninth floor apartment building in Manhattan.
Ruslana was born in Kazakhstan, and was discovered at age 15. Modelling agents described her appearance as “something out of a fairytale.“ She went to live in London, and at age 18 rose to fame after a Nina Ricci perfume commercial.
She was invited to New York and Moscow’s classiest parties, and hit on by dozens of wealthy suitors. She was even invited to Jeffrey Epstein’s creepy private island. Ruslana fell in love with a wealthy Russian oligarch who brutally broke her heart. She went through a string of disappointing relationships. On her blog, she wrote:
“Why, sooner or later, love will die. What is even worst is if it will end earlier for my partner than for me. It really hurts when someone stops loving you but you continue to love.”
With a family on the other side of the world and a declining career, she joined a self-help cult named Rose of the World. It has been compared to Scientology. Friends say the cult made Ruslana moody and aggressive.
Fellow cult members said Ruslana told them about her secret history of attempted suicides, dating back from when she started modelling at 15. Months before her death, she wrote:
“It hurts as if someone took a part of me, mercilessly tore it out, stomped all over it…threw it out.”
Her last night was spent with her ex-boyfriend Artem Perchenok, and the two read love poems and watched Ghost (1990) together. After he dropped her off at home, she chopped off much of her famous long hair.
Ruslana jumped from her balcony at 2:30 PM, shocking witnesses who reported that her landing sounded like a loud explosion. She left no suicide note.
The construction netting on the balcony of her apartment was cut open, and her body was discovered 28 feet away from the building. This meant she would have had to have taken a running leap from the balcony, leading some to suspect she was murdered.
Distraught concierge Muhammad Naqib described the grisly scene:
“I was shocked when I saw her on the pavement. She was on the road, small and pitiful, in a puddle of blood, surrounded by a crowd. Her arms and neck were broken.”
Ruslana’s mother buried her in Moscow. Before the funeral, Artem had Ruslana’s name tattooed on the inside of his wrist, to honor her memory forever.
- The Untimely Suicide of Ruslana Korshunova
