Born June 4, 1985 in Hod HaSharon, Israel, Bar Refaeli was the daughter of a model, Tzipi Levine, and followed in her footsteps while still an infant. So popular did Refaeli become in her home country that she attracted international attention, which helped her become the first Israeli supermodel to conquer the United States. Inundated with offers, she drew considerable attention for her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition layouts, including landing the cover of the 2009 installment. In a controversial but profile-boosting campaign, one of Refaeli's steamy shots from the pictorial was painted on the side of a Southwest plane. Although enormously proud of her heritage, Refaeli sometimes found it difficult to juggle the cultural expectations placed on her with the sexier side of her modeling jobs. One such stumbling block that she faced was the fact that she had managed to dodge enlistment in the Israel Defense Forces, which was mandatory for both women and men.
To smooth things over with government officials, Refaeli agreed to help promote Israel's military, but her decision stuck in the craw of many of her detractors. Similarly, Refaeli faced considerable homeland pressure to only date Jewish men, and her romantic life was constantly scrutinized in ways her peers' were not. An occasional actress as well, Refaeli landed a role on the Israeli television series "Pick Up" (2005), but made more frequent appearances on talk and variety shows, preferring to keep a lower profile. That was made considerably more difficult when the model - who had previously dated actor David Charvet - began a relationship with arguably the world's biggest movie star at the time, Leonardo DiCaprio, who was rebound from a breakup with another international supermodel, Gisele. The new couple were spotted in Israel as well as in the United States, and their relative silence on their relationship only helped fan the flames of interest from media and gossip outlets.
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