” I was 104 pounds then, I was working too much, staying up too late and doing all the bad stuff you’ re not supposed to be doing. So, it was life-saving when he brought me here.”
before the Miss Teen Pennsylvania pageant in 1982, where television hostess Bonnie Barney spotted her and talked her into a modeling tryout.
Whisked away to New York City, promoter Carmine Verno shopped her at modeling agencies and decided on the famed Ford Agency. For a while she lived at agent Eileen Ford’ s home, and her first job was a fashion spread in the back-to-school issue of Seventeen magazine. Ford decided Roberta needed some seasoning, and placed her in Munich, Germany, for about 18 months to get a feel for the European market.
Fashion magazine photos by Walter Chin, Dean Isdidro, Gilles Bensimon, and Andrew MacPhearson.
Between 1986 and 1990, Roberta did lots of modeling, living in London, Paris and Milan. Work with photographer Oliviero Toscani landed her on the cover of many important women’ s magazines worldwide.
Back in New York in 1992, one of Roberta’ s Elle magazine covers caught the eye of Myers, then a member of Mellencamp’ s band.
Mellencamp was dating Elaine Irwin, another of the Ford Agency models, and Roberta’ s onetime roommate. Myers talked Irwin into making an introduction. Roberta was sick with the flu when Myers first came to her apartment. He brought her soup and took care of her.“ He stayed and never left,” she said.
After 17 years in Mellencamp’ s band, Myers quit when their son Cash was born in 1999, and Roberta quit modeling about the same time. Cash is now a senior at Brown County High School, planning on attending Indiana University next term.
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March / April 2017 • Our Brown County 25