Karolína Isela Kurková was born born February 28, 1984 in Děčín, Czechoslovakia, to Josef Kurka, a Czech basketball player, and a Slovak mother. While Kurková was young, she was made fun of for her height, but after a friend sent photos of Kurková to an agency in Prague, she - at 15 - landed a runway appearance, as well as a commercial and print ad. She later traveled to Milan to gain more experience and signed a modeling contract with Miuccia Prada. Kurková has no navel, and photographs are often altered by the addition of an image of a navel to hide this.