Short Biography

Elin Maria Pernilla Nordegren was born on New Year`s Day in 1980, 10 minutes ahead of her identical twin, Josefine. They joined older brother, Axel, in the family home in Vaxholm, a small town 50 miles north of Stockholm. Their parents, Thomas Nordegren and Barbro Holmberg, divorced when Elin was six years old, and they have both gone on to lead extraordinary lives. A university-trained social worker, Holmberg has enjoyed a long career in Swedish government and last October was appointed Minister for Migration, a cabinet-level position that has made her a prominent voice among the country`s Social Democrats. For two decades Thomas Nordegren has been one of Sweden`s leading journalists, and presently he is based in Washington, D.C., as a correspondent for the influential Swedish Broadcasting, for whom his responsibilities include covering the White House.

Thomas Nordegren recently told SI. In 1997, when Thomas took a position with the Berlin bureau of Swedish Broadcasting, Elin and her twin enrolled at the city`s prestigious John F. Kennedy School. Other than that year, Elin and Josefine spent their time in Stockholm with their mother, who has an apartment in the picturesque Gamla Stan (Old City). Though their parents were rich in accomplishments, the girls did not lead a life of luxury.

Near the end of 1999 a different kind of work presented itself to Elin. One of Sweden`s leading fashion photographers, the wonderfully named Bingo Rimer, happened upon a candid photo of her and immediately recognized her star quality. Rimer looked up Nordegren`s phone number and talked her into a couple of photo shoots, which took place in early 2000. "She is magnificent — Swedish high quality," says Rimer, who is a regular contributor to Scandinavian Playboy.
A Rimer photo of a bikini-clad Nordegren landed on the cover of Cafe Sport magazine in the summer of 2000, yet she did little to capitalize on this development in her career. Rimer was frustrated, and impressed, by her apathy. "Elin doesn`t care about modeling," says Rimer, who remains a friend and confidant of Nordegren`s. "She never has. Even the few things I got her to do, I had to drag her into the studio. Being famous, the whole celebrity thing, she really and truly does not care about that." Instead of pursuing modeling full time, Elin (and Josefine) enrolled at Lund University, one of the top colleges in Sweden. Elin`s course load reflected her longstanding dream of becoming a child psychologist. But Elin`s life took an unexpected turn in the summer after her freshman year.
She was working at the clothing boutique Champagne, in Stockholm, when noted shopaholic Mia Parnevik blew in. The Parneviks have four young children and employ two full-time nannies, preferably twentysomething Swedish women whom Mia brings over to the family home in Jupiter, Fla., for several months at a time. After chatting with Nordegren at Champagne, Mia all but offered her the job. "I`m really into a person`s energy," she says, by way of explanation. "Elin was smart, she was down to earth, and I could tell immediately that she was great with kids." Nordegren officially signed on after further impressing Mia during a more formal interview.

In July 2001 Nordegren settled in at the Parneviks` 3,000-square-foot guesthouse, which she shared with another nanny. It was a comfortable life, Mia says, with "good pay" and two days off a week. The nannies` only responsibility was to look after the k

Miscellaneous Information

Friends and Family

Barbro Holmberg [Mother] (Minister for Migration)

Thomas Nordegren [Father] (Sweden`s leading journalists)

Axel Nordegren [Brother] (older brother)

Josefine Nordegren [Sister] (younger identical twin)

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