A biography for Marie Helvinhasn’t been written yet.
“Myself and my two younger sisters and brother were paid for any chores, whether it was washing pop's car, sweeping the lawn or picking mangoes.”
“There are lots of things I won't eat but would like to, such as croissants or ice cream - if I started, I'd scoff the whole tub.”
“For modern fashion designers, bones are beautiful. I don't know why, but so many people are obsessed with the skeletal look.”
“I don't wear mini-skirts or shorts because I have thread veins on my legs and cellulite, and I won't wear tights.”
“I'm spoilt. I like my own space. I don't even own a microwave, and men don't like that. They want to be looked after.”
“I'm not a pretty-boy kind of a girl; the Brad Pitts don't do anything for me.”
“Monogamy is not something that's important to me. I don't think it defines love.”
“My life has been charmed in the sense that I've met some extraordinary people. But at the end of the day, when you go home and you go to bed, and if you're on your own, you never think of yourself in that way. I'm sure not even people like Angelina Jolie think like that.”
“Even in the early Eighties, when I was one of the most successful models in Britain, I didn't really have a voice. Time after time, when I should have spoken up, I simply walked away.”
“The only thing I can't change is the elasticity of my skin.”
“But I'd made up my mind early on in life that I never wanted to be a mother.”
“I wasn't interested in having children of my own. I know what would have happened - I'd have been left at home to look after the kids, and my career would have been over while my husband travelled the world.”
“I think a mother needs to be with mothers. I don't know what they talk about.”
“As a girl, I lived in jeans, and my love-affair with them continues. Since I turned 50, jeans have become something of a uniform, whether it's a slouchy boyfriend fit for daytime or a leaner, fitted jean in a darker denim for evening.”
“When you live with a photographer, you never have a day off - it was a nightmare.”
“I have sun damage. I cover it up with make-up.”
“I don't see myself as the next Carmen Dell'Orefice. I'd rather be fat and happy, sitting on a beach in Hawaii eating pizza.”
“I was brought up by parents who embraced the 1960s and taught me that being faithful isn't the be-all and end-all.”
“I'm slim for professional reasons, and I work at it. I really want to continue working. There aren't that many models who are still doing it at 60.”
“I love to lounge, and I particularly love to eat outdoors. It's a throwback to my childhood in Hawaii. I have memories of coming out of the sea and eating corn chips with a strawberry vanilla slush.”