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Michael John Bergin (born March 19, 1969 in Waterbury, Connecticut of Irish
Catholic extraction). He is considered to have been one of the first males
to have achieved the supermodel status, previously reserved for women such
as Cindy Crawford and Iman.
Bergin attended the University of Connecticut and is perhaps best known as
Mark Wahlberg's successor in Calvin Klein's racy series of black and white
underwear ads. His 6" 1' frame and washboard abs (widely cited as his
professional signature) gained international exposure in print ads and,
notably, on a 96' X 70' billboard in New York City's Times Square.
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In addition to his high-profile role as the “spokesbody” for Calvin Klein,
Bergin has walked the runways of New York City, Paris and Milan for Sonia
Rykiel, Valentino, Calvin Klein, Gianfranco Ferre, Giorgio Armani, Yves
Saint-Laurent and Donna Karan and was the exclusive model for Claiborne for
Men, a division of Liz Claiborne, Inc., for over three years. He has also
appeared in commercials and print advertisements for Kellogg's, Bacardi Rum,
L'Oreal, Maybelline, Coty, Valentino, Perry Ellis, and Liz Claiborne.
Branching out into acting and television presenting, Michael’s career has
been more it and miss. Bergin was a correspondent for the E! Entertainment
channel, VH1 Latin America's House of Style, the co-host of MTV exercise
show The Daily Burn, and as a recurring character on the prime-time soap
opera Central Park West. As a contracted 'star', Michael spent nearly 4
years on the syndicated Baywatch and Baywatch Hawaii and starred as villain
"Nick Bozman", on the NBC supernatural soap opera Passions. In unusual
variety for a model-turned-actor, Bergin worked for art-house legends
Merchant Ivory in the 1998 film The Proprietor, played a closeted gay action
film star opposite Dean Cain in 2000’s The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic
Comedy, and guest-starred as a rapist on CBS's popular crime procedural CSI:
Miami.
While contracted to Calvin Klein, Michael met the late Carolyn
Bessette-Kennedy, a Calvin Klein publicist, whom he dated seriously. After
that relationship fell apart due to career pressures, she went on to marry
popular "first son," John F. Kennedy, Jr., with whom she later perished in a
fatal plane crash. He claims to have had an affair with Bessette-Kennedy
during her troubled marriage to the late Kennedy, Jr..
Later, Bergin was linked romantically to fashion designer Valentino in
untrue industry scuttlebutt inflamed by a reportedly besotted former
manager. (A related rumor, this time true, is that the character of "The
Bone" in both the book and television incarnations of Sex and the City was a
thinly veiled jab at Michael and his close relationship with the famous
designer. Ironically, Bergin was passed-over to play the character on the
HBO show because he was, by then, considered too old for the part.)
He married Joy Tilk on September 24, 2004, and is the father of a son,
Jesse, and a daughter, Alannah Jade. |
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