Brazilian fashion model, once dubbed “the most beautiful woman in Brazil”, she was the first transgender model to pose for the Brazilian edition of Playboy magazine. She has appeared on the catwalk for numerous fashion houses, including Thierry Mugler, Guy Laroche, Jean Paul Gaultier. In addition to Playboy, Close has been featured in editorials for Vogue.
In November 1989, Close underwent sex reassignment surgery at Charing Cross Clinic in London, England. Afterwards, she appeared in an extensive photo spread in the Brazilian men’s magazine Sexy, and was subsequently voted the “Most Beautiful Woman in Brazil.”
In 1993, Close married Roland Granacher. The wedding to her Swiss husband took place in Europe, as it would not have been legal in Brazil. Close lives with Granacher in Zurich and Paris.
Close’s Portuguese-language autobiography, Muito Prazer, Roberta Close (“Much Pleasure, Roberta Close” or “Pleased to meet you, I’m Roberta Close”) was published in 1998. In it, she writes that she had been involved with numerous American celebrities including Eddie Murphy, George Clooney, and Robert De Niro.
Close was involved in a lengthy legal judicial battle to challenge the Brazilian laws which prevented her from declaring her sex as female on official documents. On 4 March 2005, she acquired legal status as a female in Brazil after Judge Leise Rodrigues de Lima Espiritu Santo of the 9th Family Court of Rio de Janeiro legally recognized Close as a woman. She was issued a new birth certificate by the Office of Public Records of the 4th district of Rio de Janeiro, which states that on 7 December 1964 a child of the female sex was born and was given the name “Roberta Gambine Moreira”.
In May 2015, Close told Brazilian television host Gugu Liberato that she recently underwent genetic testing that revealed she is intersex.
Link to Wikipedia biography