After quitting the runway, she set up her own label in 1994, and spoke out actively against female circumcision, describing her own experience at age 9 in a book, "Katoucha, In My Flesh," published in 2007.
Ran away to Europe at 17 aiming to be a model. Her big break came when a designer at Lanvin spotted her in a line-up and hired her as a fitting model. Her first catwalk modeling was for Thierry Mugler at the start of the 1980s.
Disapeared after returning from a party on February 1, 2008. Her body was found floating in the Seine River in Paris on February 28, 2008.