Maggie Rizer
Encyclopedia
Maggie Rizer is an American model
, actress, and AIDS
activist. She is also ambassador for Operation Smile
.
and the Rochester Institute of Technology
.
Rizer's hair is naturally strawberry blonde. She dyed her hair carrot-red and attracted the attention of Italian Vogue and photographer Steven Meisel
. They booked her for her first cover and 20-page couture layout in September 1997. She was also featured on the April 1999 cover of American Vogue with Kate Moss. Her second American Vogue cover was in November 2000 with models Carmen Kass, Angela Lindvall, and Frankie Rader. That year she was up for the 2000 VH1/Vogue "Model of the Year" award. Carmen Kass was the eventual winner. Rizer has appeared in many fashion spreads and on the covers of dozens of fashion magazines including Elle', Lucky, Vogue, and Flare.
Rizer was at the peak of her modeling career in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Neal Hamil, her agent at Ford, said
She starred in campaigns for Gap
, Clinique
, Louis Vuitton
, Tommy Hilfiger
, Calvin Klein
, Versace
, Viktor & Rolf
, Celine
, Romeo Gigli
, and Max Mara
.
Her favorite designers were Miuccia Prada
, Gucci
, Michael Kors
, Marc Jacobs
and Anna Sui
. Her favorite photographers are Steven Meisel
, Patrick Demarchelier
, Irving Penn
, Inez van Lamsweerde, and Chadwick Tyler.
Rizer has also done some limited film and television work. She briefly appeared in a television episode ("Let There Be Light") of Sex and the City
during Season Six. She is the model who begs Smith to party with her and her friends at Richard Wright's hotel. Rizer also appears in a deleted scene from the 2001 Ben Stiller
movie Zoolander
. She appears with a group of models traveling in a limousine who stop and ask Stiller's character Derek Zoolander to "come and join our sex party!"
At 20, Rizer and her mother hired a New York City financial manager to handle her money in exchange for five percent of her earnings. Weeks later, her stepfather John Breen, who was in the insurance industry, told her that this was a waste of money and that he wanted to handle all of her finances.
Breen had a serious drinking problem, however. The family would assume he was at work as he worked for himself at a small local insurance agency. According to him, after he lost his savings, he turned to Rizer's money and sometimes lost over $60,000 of it per day. No one but John was aware of these losses.
Maggie's mother eventually forced her husband into alcohol rehab and while he was gone, she came across receipts, documents, and forged checks in his trashcan at his office. She slowly unraveled the details of his addiction and discovered that Breen had gambled away all of Maggie's modeling income and the money Maggie had inherited upon the death of her biological father, Kevin, from AIDS in 1992.
In 2004, her stepfather was convicted of grand larceny and conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to sixteen to forty-eight months in prison. The family was left with no money. Rizer also gained weight after discovering her fortune was gone. Ford, and then her new modeling agency, IMG
, encouraged Rizer to seek therapy. Rizer mostly dropped out of modeling for the next five years.
As a result of the thefts, Maureen had to briefly go on welfare and food stamps to support her large family.
A long article, detailing Rizer's rise-and-fall, was in New York Magazine and online in April and May 2005.
line and in the print catalog.
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
, actress, and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
activist. She is also ambassador for Operation Smile
Operation Smile
Operation Smile is a not-for-profit medical service organization based in Norfolk, Virginia , founded in 1982. A secular NGO, the children's medical charity provides cleft lip and palate repair surgeries to children worldwide, assists countries in reaching self-sufficiency with these surgeries, and...
.
Personal life
Maggie was born to Maureen and Kevin Rizer. Her parents divorced before she was a year old when her father announced he was gay. Ten years later her mother married John Breen. Her extended family includes siblings Julia, Patricia, Katie, and Jake. The family, who lives in upstate New York, appeared in a 2001 Teen Vogue layout. Rizer married Iranian businessman Alex Mehran on September 18, 2010 in Lake Placid, New York.Modeling career
Rizer's high school graduation portrait was hung in Burns Photography studio and in the local mall. Neighbors saw the large photo and encouraged Maggie's mother Maureen to send the photo to the Ford Modeling Agency in New York City. Rizer's pale skin, covered in freckles, and her bright blue eyes caught the modeling world's attention. Rizer initially turned down modeling offers to continue her studies at the State University of New York at GeneseoState University of New York at Geneseo
The State University of New York at Geneseo—also known as SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo State, or, colloquially, Geneseo—is located in Geneseo, Livingston County, New York, United States. It is a University College of the State University of New York...
and the Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States...
.
Rizer's hair is naturally strawberry blonde. She dyed her hair carrot-red and attracted the attention of Italian Vogue and photographer Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex...
. They booked her for her first cover and 20-page couture layout in September 1997. She was also featured on the April 1999 cover of American Vogue with Kate Moss. Her second American Vogue cover was in November 2000 with models Carmen Kass, Angela Lindvall, and Frankie Rader. That year she was up for the 2000 VH1/Vogue "Model of the Year" award. Carmen Kass was the eventual winner. Rizer has appeared in many fashion spreads and on the covers of dozens of fashion magazines including Elle', Lucky, Vogue, and Flare.
Rizer was at the peak of her modeling career in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Neal Hamil, her agent at Ford, said
She was a canvas you could manipulate and mold into whatever mood or look you were doing, which made her, obviously, a very popular model. That, and the fact that she was so eager to please. http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/11672/
She starred in campaigns for Gap
Gap (clothing retailer)
The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008,...
, Clinique
Clinique
Clinique is a manufacturer of skincare, cosmetics, toiletries and fragrances, owned by the Estée Lauder Corporation.- History :In 1967, American Vogue magazine published an article called “Can Great Skin Be Created?”, written by beauty editor Carol Phillips with Dr. Norman Orentreich, discussing...
, Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton Malletier – commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton , or shortened to LV – is a French fashion house founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label is well known for its LV monogram, which is featured on most products, ranging from luxury trunks and leather goods to ready-to-wear, shoes,...
, Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger
Thomas Jacob "Tommy" Hilfiger is an American fashion designer and founder of the premium lifestyle brand Tommy Hilfiger.-Early life:...
, Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein
Calvin Richard Klein is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc. in 1968. In addition to clothing, Klein has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewelry....
, Versace
Versace
Gianni Versace S.p.A. , usually referred to as Versace, is an Italian fashion label founded by Gianni Versace in 1978.The first Versace boutique was opened in Milan's Via della Spiga in 1978, and its popularity was immediate. Today, Versace is one of the world's leading international fashion houses...
, Viktor & Rolf
Viktor & Rolf
Viktor & Rolf is an Amsterdam-based fashion house. The company was founded in 1993 by designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren .- History :...
, Celine
Celine
- People with the family name Celine :* Louis-Ferdinand Céline, pen name of French author Louis-Ferdinand Destouches- People with the given name Celine :* Céline Dion, , French-Canadian pop singer.* Celine Helgemo, Norwegian singer...
, Romeo Gigli
Romeo Gigli
Romeo Gigli is an Italian fashion designer. He was born in Castel Bolognese.He rose to fame in 1986, and influenced other designers with what the Los Angeles Times described as "soft look, body-hugging dresses with draped bubble skirts"....
, and Max Mara
Max Mara
MaxMara, or The House of MaxMara, is a luxury Italian fashion house known for its ready-to-wear clothing. Established in 1951 in Reggio Emilia by Achille Maramotti...
.
Her favorite designers were Miuccia Prada
Miuccia Prada
Miuccia Prada is an Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur. She also has a Ph.D. in Political Science.Prada was born in Milan, the youngest granddaughter of Mario Prada, founder of the company. According to: Forbes.com's The World's Richest People 2001: "She and her husband, Patrizio Bertelli,...
, Gucci
Gucci
The House of Gucci, better known simply as Gucci , is an Italian fashion and leather goods label, part of the Gucci Group, which is owned by French company PPR...
, Michael Kors
Michael Kors
Michael Kors is an American fashion designer. He is best known for designing classic American sportswear for women.-Personal life:...
, Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for Marc Jacobs, as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, with more than 200 retail stores in 60 countries. He has been the creative director of the French design house Louis Vuitton since 1997...
and Anna Sui
Anna Sui
Anna Sui is an American fashion designer. Her luxury brand retails globally in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Her clothing, fragrance, cosmetic, and accessories lines sell at Anna Sui stores in over 50 countries and are also widely distributed at leading department stores...
. Her favorite photographers are Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex...
, Patrick Demarchelier
Patrick Demarchelier
Patrick Demarchelier is a French fashion photographer.-Life:Born near Paris in 1943 to a modest family, he spent his childhood in Le Havre with his mother and four brothers. For his seventeenth birthday, his stepfather bought him his first Eastman Kodak camera...
, Irving Penn
Irving Penn
Irving Penn was an American photographer known for his portraiture and fashion photography.-Early career:Irving Penn studied under Alexey Brodovitch at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art from which he was graduated in 1938. Penn's drawings were published by Harper's Bazaar and he...
, Inez van Lamsweerde, and Chadwick Tyler.
Rizer has also done some limited film and television work. She briefly appeared in a television episode ("Let There Be Light") of Sex and the City
Sex and the City
Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
during Season Six. She is the model who begs Smith to party with her and her friends at Richard Wright's hotel. Rizer also appears in a deleted scene from the 2001 Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller
Benjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller is an American comedian, actor, writer, film director, and producer. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara....
movie Zoolander
Zoolander
Zoolander is a 2001 American satirical comedy film directed by and starring Ben Stiller. The film contains elements from a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Stiller for the VH1 Fashion Awards television specials in 1996 and 1997. The short films and the...
. She appears with a group of models traveling in a limousine who stop and ask Stiller's character Derek Zoolander to "come and join our sex party!"
Loss of modeling fortune
Maggie earned around $20,000 per fashion show and her day-rate started at $30,000. She amassed a fortune of $7 million in only five years.At 20, Rizer and her mother hired a New York City financial manager to handle her money in exchange for five percent of her earnings. Weeks later, her stepfather John Breen, who was in the insurance industry, told her that this was a waste of money and that he wanted to handle all of her finances.
Breen had a serious drinking problem, however. The family would assume he was at work as he worked for himself at a small local insurance agency. According to him, after he lost his savings, he turned to Rizer's money and sometimes lost over $60,000 of it per day. No one but John was aware of these losses.
Maggie's mother eventually forced her husband into alcohol rehab and while he was gone, she came across receipts, documents, and forged checks in his trashcan at his office. She slowly unraveled the details of his addiction and discovered that Breen had gambled away all of Maggie's modeling income and the money Maggie had inherited upon the death of her biological father, Kevin, from AIDS in 1992.
In 2004, her stepfather was convicted of grand larceny and conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to sixteen to forty-eight months in prison. The family was left with no money. Rizer also gained weight after discovering her fortune was gone. Ford, and then her new modeling agency, IMG
IMG Models
IMG Models is one of the major international modeling agencies, currently representing only female models. Its mother office is in New York City, with branches in Paris, London, Milan and Hong Kong. It is a division of New York, NY-based IMG...
, encouraged Rizer to seek therapy. Rizer mostly dropped out of modeling for the next five years.
As a result of the thefts, Maureen had to briefly go on welfare and food stamps to support her large family.
A long article, detailing Rizer's rise-and-fall, was in New York Magazine and online in April and May 2005.
AIDS activism
Rizer was fourteen when her openly gay father Kevin Rizer died of AIDS, and she has since become involved in AIDS awareness. As an adult, she spoke with Scott, her father's partner of ten years about how many friends her father had lost to the disease.Modeling comeback
People Magazine, in its December 15, 2008 issue, ran a story about Rizer's attempts at a modeling comeback. In the Fall of 2009, Rizer began appearing in advertisements for Dooney and Bourke. In the spring of 2010, she has been featured prominently on the website for the L.L.Bean SIGNATUREL.L.Bean SIGNATURE
L.L.Bean SIGNATURE is a sub-brand of L.L.Bean, launched on 15 March, 2010. The L.L.Bean Signture brand offers classy, young and fresh line of clothing. L.L.Bean is a privately held mail-order, online and retail company based in Freeport, Maine, United States, specializing in clothing and outdoor...
line and in the print catalog.