Selene Mahri

Selene Mahri (born Solveig Ann Mari Eklund; December 17, 1924 – March 3, 2020), also known as Selene Eklund Weaver, was a Finnish-American fashion model and pin-up girl. During World War II, she appeared on the covers of Vogue, Life, and Cosmopolitan. She was also the poster girl and face of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) and a pin-up girl for Yank, the Army Weekly.

Mahri was also known for her personal life, including being the mistress of Greek shipping billionaire Stavros Niarchos. She was also married to and divorced from three millionaires and is credited with coining the saying, "Marriage is a question of give and take. You give. I take." She moved to the United States in 1942 with her mother. Her mother reportedly worked as a personal aide to Mary Pickford.

Modeling career Mahri first gained a degree of fame in August 1942 when she was chosen to represent New York in the Miss America pageant. She was disqualified from the competition, with some sources stating that the disqualification was for being too young (age 17), or foreign citizenship. After being eliminated from the Miss America competition, she was promoted by the U.S. Treasury Department as "Miss War Bonds".

Mahri became a model for fashion designer Nettie Rosenstein and by 1943 with the John Powers modeling agency. Her hair was described as "so blond it's almost white". She appeared on covers of Vogue magazine (including January 15, 1943, September 1, 1944, and December 15, 1944). She was also featured on the cover of other magazines, including Life (December 6, 1943, and October 9, 1944 ), Cosmopolitan, and British Vogue. Dorothy Kilgallen called Mahri "probably New York's most beautiful model" and wrote in October 1944 that Mahri had appeared in a single month in eight national magazines and was charging $25-an-hour for modeling work.

In addition to fashion modeling, Mahri became the poster girl for the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in 1943. She was used on most of the recruitment posters issued by the WAVES and "became the face and figure of the WAVES." She was also a Yank pin-up girl in 1944.

According to columnist Doris Lilly of the Daily News, Mahri became known as "the personification of the blonde ice goddess." Mahri also had a relationship in the 1940s with the married Greek shipping billionaire Stavros Niarchos and was regularly seen with him at the Stork Club and El Morocco in Manhattan. Niarchos bought her a car, a town house, a country house, jewelry, and two standard French poodles. Mahri later recalled of her attraction to Niarchos that he had "such fantastic, bony, degenerate hands."

Mahri's first husband was Albert George "Bert" Rupp Jr., to whom she was married in 1947. They were divorced in 1949. They divorced in 1972. At the time, syndicated newspaper columnist Suzy wrote that she was "divorcing her third husband (and her third millionaire)".

Mahri received press coverage for her romantic relationships and marriages to wealthy men. She was credited with inventing the saying, "Marriage is a question of give and take. You give. I take."