VANISHED FROM NEW YORK CITY
Missing fashion model Eloisa Fontes who was found last week wandering disoriented in a Rio de Janeiro shanty town is now in a psychiatric facility in that city.
The 26-year-old model, who has appeared on the covers of Elle, Glamour and Grazia magazines, disappeared from New York City a little over a year ago.
Brazilian authorities were alerted after she was seen walking homeless in the mean streets of a Rio favela.
When social workers rescued her, she was “barefoot and shirtless” and carrying a knapsack containing contracts from international modeling agencies and fashion photographers.
HUGE MARKETING POTENTIAL
Eloisa Fontes was born in Maceió, Brazil, about 1,300 miles south of Rio de Janeiro. She was discovered by a modelling agency scout on a street in Sao Paulo when she was 18.
Two years ago she was living in New York City. In addition to being on the covers of glossy fashion mags she was a part of a marketing campaign for the Italian luxury fashion house Dolce & Gabbana.
After going missing from New York City in early 2019 she was spotted briefly a few days later wandering the streets of White Plains in Westchester County, just north of the city. She then dropped from sight altogether.
Even her family didn’t know where she was. She didn’t contact them. She was clearly a troubled young woman.
TWO-YEAR MARRIAGE ENDED
From 2014 to 2016 she was married to Russian-Romanian model Andre Birleanu, who she met when she was 18. They had a baby together, who is seven years old. Birleanu, now 42, has custody of the child.
GOD IS BY HER SIDE
Once, when asked about her happiest memory Eloisa said, “My first runway for Vogue Italia, which I dedicated to a paralyzed man I passed on the street in Milan on my way to the show.”
People who know Eloisa Fontes believe she will get through her current troubles.
On the subject of religion, she once told an interviewer, “I am armored with God’s protection.”
HAPPIER TIMES—PARIS PHOTO SHOOT
