We were terrified – we had no idea what was happening – until a nurse said, “We think she might have Down’s syndrome, but we’re not sure.”’ With her mum Yvonne ‘After Ellie was born, Mark and I barely saw her before she was whisked away. ‘As I was wheeled into theatre for a caesarean because Ellie was lying transverse, Down’s syndrome wasn’t on my mind at all,’ remembers Yvonne. Yvonne, who lives with husband Mark, 60, and also has an elder daughter Amy, 26, had a normal pregnancy with Ellie, the standard antenatal scans and tests failing to detect the chromosomal condition.

Looking back, all the signs were there she’d end up in front of a camera.’ ‘From the age of five she’d tell me she wanted to be famous, catwalking up and down our living room or singing and dancing around the house. ‘I’m not remotely surprised Ellie’s forged a career like this,’ she says. A 56-year-old support worker from Ilford, Essex, she beams with pride as she watches her daughter at work. Sitting quietly in the shadows is Yvonne. Striking pose after perfect pose, she radiates professionalism and, between shots, her infectious laugh fills the studio. Today Ellie is on her latest assignment, modelling for YOU magazine’s fashion issue. Ellie in Gucci’s unconventional beauty campaign with Jahmal Baptiste (right) and Enam Asiama. The Gucci campaign was just the latest big name on what is already an impressive CV, even though Ellie’s been modelling for less than three years.įrom Nike to Vodafone and the London Film Festival, her star is on the rise as she joins an exclusive but growing clique of professional models with Down’s syndrome who are breaking down barriers. The first model with Down’s syndrome to pose for the luxury brand, earlier this summer Ellie, 18, graced Vogue Italia dressed in the designer label.

Today that baby is the face of Gucci’s Unconventional Beauty campaign. It was even hinted that Yvonne should leave Ellie at the hospital and go home without her, like the ‘last mother who had a baby like that’. The day Ellie Goldstein was born, her mother Yvonne was told by a paediatrician her daughter would never talk, walk, nor live an independent life.

Ellie face model last of us