Models have always generally had a short shelf life, but things went a bit too far when a stunning model burnt herself to death because she thought she was too old to find a job.
The charred remains of the once pretty blonde Irina Livshun, 31, were found at her apartment in the city of Almaty in southern Kazakhstan.
Alongside the corpse, police found a gas canister, which they believe she used to set herself alight.
The model, who originally came from the town of Jezkazgan in central Kazakhstan, had moved to the city when she was a teenager to pursue a career in modelling.
According to fiends she had been reasonably successful finding lucrative jobs with a number of fashion companies and achieving local fame.
One friend said: ‘She was quite famous and took part in many fashion shows. But recently she had some troubles with her job.’
Local media reported that she began having financial troubles in November last year after her contracts began to dry up.
According to local reports, she also stopped meeting with friends.
Police spokesman Saltanat Azirbek added: ‘Irina’s relatives had told us she had been suffering from depression for a long time because she lost her job and was unemployed for several months.’
The spokesman added: ‘She had threatened to commit suicide many times before.’
Now the model’s social media account on VKontakte (the Russian equivalent of Facebook) has been flooded with sympathy messages from friends and fans.
One, Artur Arturov, posted: ‘It is such a pity, such a young girl. Rip!’
Another, Adil Amenkenov, wrote: ‘Rest in peace! I did not know you, but sorry…’
And Aynura Iskakova commented: ‘You will be remembered as fun, kind, courageous … Forgive us… There were so many who loved you… but no one who pulled you out of this abyss.’
She will be fondly remembered by friends, but it is believed there might been some underlying factors to the apparent suicide.
