Karen Mulder

Karen Mulder is a Dutch fashion model born on 1 June 1969 in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands. She is best known for her work during the supermodel era of the late 1980s to mid-1990s, during which she appeared on over 700 magazine covers and became one of the original Victoria's Secret Angels. Mulder is trilingual, speaking Dutch, English, and French.

Raised in The Hague and Voorburg, Mulder is the daughter of Ben Mulder, a tax inspector, and Marijke de Jong, a secretary. She has a younger sister, Saskia. In 1985, during a family camping trip in France, a friend submitted photographs of Mulder to Elite Model Management's Look of the Year contest. Mulder won the preliminary competition in Amsterdam and placed second in the finals, subsequently signing with Elite Paris.

By her second year on the runway, Mulder was modeling for major fashion houses including Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, Christian Lacroix, Versace, and Giorgio Armani. In 1991, she landed a contract with Guess and made her first appearance on the cover of Vogue. Throughout the 1990s, she appeared on international Vogue covers, represented Nivea in an advertising campaign, signed with Victoria's Secret, and featured in the 1997 and 1998 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues. For many years, she was ranked among the ten best-paid models internationally.

Mulder expanded her career beyond modeling during the mid-1990s. She collaborated on a Karen Mulder doll with Hasbro, released a beauty and exercise CD-ROM, produced an infomercial, and published her own calendar. In 1995, she bought a French château to offer holidays for underprivileged children. After retiring from modeling in 2000, she debuted as an actress in the 2001 French short film A Theft, One Night. She also launched a music career, releasing a cover single of I Am What I Am in 2002 and a self-titled album in 2004.

In her personal life, Mulder was married to photographer René Bosne from 1988 to 1993, and was later engaged to real estate developer Jean-Yves Le Fur. In 2001, she publicly made allegations of sexual abuse during a television interview that was ultimately withheld from broadcast. She subsequently spent five months at a psychiatric facility and experienced health struggles, including a hospitalization in 2002 following an overdose. Mulder gave birth to a daughter in October 2006.

Mulder briefly returned to the runway in July 2007 for Dior's Autumn/Winter collection in Paris before stepping away from public life again. In 2026, she returned to the industry, appearing on the September cover of Vogue Deutsch and launching an Instagram account. In an interview that year, she stated that she had previously been forced to retract her 2001 allegations. As of 2026, Mulder resides in Paris.