British model Georgina Cooper died on the Greek island of Kos. She was 46.
The model’s friends, Jade Parfitt and Erin O’Connor confirmed her death on Thursday, Nov. 8, via Instagram. The Daily Mail reports she died from a blood-brain hemorrhage as a result of long COVID.
Her agent, Dean Goodman, told the outlet she “tragically died [in Greece] a fortnight ago.”
“Georgina had been unwell during Covid and had developed some health problems and had been in and out of hospital,” Goodman continued. “But she had plans for the future. She had just married and was looking forward to her life. Everybody is devastated. She was a genuine superstar.”
Cooper fell ill on the Greek island and was taken to the island’s main hospital. Once her condition worsened she was flown via air ambulance to Crete. She remained in the ICU for five days before she died. Her body was flown back to England the week of Oct. 28.
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Cooper was a popular model who rose to fame during the “Cool Britannia” wave in the 1990s. She is best known for her gapped front teeth. Her modeling career kicked off at 13, when her mother entered her into the Elite Look of the Year contest in 1992, where she came in third place. There, she was spotted and eventually signed by Premier Model Management. (The agency’s clientele included Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell.)
“She was a walk-in and she was so much fun. When she was young, she made a lot of money and she had this very edgy streak that was of the time. Everyone found the gap between her teeth quite amazing,” former model and Premier Model Management owner Carole White recalled, per WWD.
At 15, she appeared in a Bon Jovi music video. That same year, she began a working relationship with the late renowned photographer Corinne Day. Eventually, she found herself a part of the group of “edgy” London models that included Jade Parfitt, Erin O’Connor and Kate Moss.
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“I was so young at the time I didn’t really understand how influential the work we were doing was until I got older and people would compliment me on the work we did together,” she said in Corinne Day’s documentary Diaryper WWD.
Cooper modeled for British and American Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar U.S., i-D Magazine and The Guardian’s Observer Magazine. “She was very anti-fashion with this real breath of fresh air and a really great model,” former Elle UK editor Anne-Marie Curtis told WWD.
Designer Markus Lupfer said that Cooper had a “lighthearted energy [that[] made every runway feel like a celebration,” adding, “Her spirit, style, warmth, and energy will be deeply missed by us all.”
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Cooper gave birth to her son, Sonny, and quit fashion in the early 2000s. “I tried to continue modeling, but it broke my heart when I had to leave him for work. I focused on modeling assignments in London, but my life was at a crossroads, and I decided that Sonny came first,” she told The Cultural Omnivore.
Eventually, she worked as a midwife and then in the hospitality industry. She also worked for the British pub chain Fox & Goose, according to her Facebook.
In June 2024, she married Nigel Smith at her home in Maidstone, Kent.
She is survived by her husband and son.
