Last Thursday Reeva Steenkamp, girlfriend of Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius, was killed at the apartment she shared with Pistorius, who has been arrested and charged with murder.
Reeva Steenkamp, who was to have given a talk on Thursday at a Johannesburg school, had become a celebrity in her own right, said publicist Sarit Tomlinson. She was one of FHM magazine’s 100 Sexiest Women in the World for two years running, appeared in international and South African advertisements and was a celebrity contestant on Tropika Island of Treasure, a South African reality show. She was also the South African face of Avon cosmetics.
She was “continuously breaking the model stereotype”, Tomlinson said, adding that Steenkamp was “the sweetest, kindest, just angelic soul” and “a very inspiring individual, very passionate about speaking about women and empowerment”.
Steenkamp graduated from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Laws degree and planned to become a lawyer by age 30.