People
Who is Liya Kebede’s husband (Kassy), daughter, family?
Fashion is one of the toughest industries, but famed actress, fashion designer, maternal health activist and model Liya Kebede had it a little easier.
A few years after she was discovered by a filmmaker, the Ethiopian-born American star became one of the highest paid models. And since her breakthrough in the early 2000s, there has been no turning back. She continues to excel and has not only blossomed into a runway beauty on runways, but has also created her own clothing line and championed infant and maternal health. Read about her journey so far.
Who is Liya Kebede? biography
Born on March 1, 1978, the model grew up in AddisAbaba, Ethiopia. She attended Lycee Guebre-Mariam, a French international school in Addis Ababa. During her stay in Africa and at school, a versatile French film director discovered her and recommended her to a modeling agency. At the age of 18, she moved to Paris to take up an offer from a Paris agency. This was the beginning of a successful modeling career. After a few years in Paris, she moved to Chicago and finally to New York.
The catwalk stunner found the incredible fame she had hoped for in 2000 when she appeared as a Gucci Fall/Winter 2000 model exclusively at Tom Ford’s runway show. The following year, she appeared on the cover of Vogue Paris and took over the entire issue of the magazine.
In 2003, she joined an American company EsteeLauder Cosmetics – which manufactures and distributes beauty products such as fragrances, skin care, hair care and makeup. This made her the first and only model from her country to have worked for the company for 57 years. With such numerous records and celebrities, her salary became a subject of much speculation, with many claiming that she made up to $3 million from the contract. Around this time, Models.com was ranked in the world rankings. With all the speculation on the air, she caught the attention of other big brands like Gap, Tom Hilfiger, Saint-Laurent, Revlon, Victoria Secret, Yves and countless others. For her then salary of 2,
Kebede also achieved amazing success in acting. She made her debut in supporting roles in crime drama Lord of War and spy film, The Good Shepherd in both 2005 and 2006. But her role in a critically acclaimed production based on the best-selling autograph Desert Flower , written by ex-supermodel Waris Dirie, was the most notable. The film documented Dirie’s harsh experience as a child in Somalia, her groundbreaking story and subsequent audacity to be one of the key people raising awareness of female circumcision.
Kebede is not only an actor and model, but also a philanthropist and uses her voice to raise awareness of mother-child mortality and women’s health. After working as a WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Newborns, Child Health and Maternal Health, she opened her own foundation called Liya Kebede. The foundation has the same mission as its previous role at WHO, which was to directly support relatively low-cost medical programs in Ethiopia and around the world.
Although the star has seen massive fame in foreign lands, she still holds her country dear to her heart. She takes every opportunity to honor Ethiopia and has recognized the country’s cultural heritage as what shaped the woman she is today. And in 2008, when she was ready to launch her clothing line Lemlem, the glamor star felt it was the right moment to take her country forward.
Since Ethiopia is universally known for its detailed cotton fabrics, mostly handwoven, she has designed her clothing line with a focus on both women’s and children’s clothing. The fashion line is tasked with preserving traditional weaving in Ethiopia and creating jobs. Currently, her net worth is around $18 million.
Liya Kebede’s family, husband (Kassy), daughter
Liya Kebede is currently single but that’s not the case as she has never walked down the aisle. She was married to an Ethiopian millionaire and business mogul, Kassy Kebede. The couple married in 2000 but separated in 2013. However, their marriage legally broke down in 2015. Kassy Kebede, Kebede’s former husband, controls the operation of a hedge fund called Panton Capital Group, which pools funds from recognized institutional investors and invests in various assets. He is Managing Partner of Cepheus Growth Capital (a private equity fund in Ethiopia) which he founded in 2016. He was also active in numerous other well-known organizations. The ex-lovers have two children, including son Suhul, born in 2001,
Height
Liya Kebede is 5 to 10 inches tall and weighs 57 kg or 126 kglbs. She is quite slim with body measurements 33-23-34 which shows that she is gracefully slim. Her 33 inch bust and 23 inch waist underlines the fact that she has a supermodel body. She wears a shoe size of 9 (US), 40 (EU), 6.5 (UK). Her dress size is 4 (US) / 34 (EU).
