Model Oliver Bjerrehuus

In the opening minutes of the conversation, model Oliver Bjerrehuus pulls a banana out of his bag as a prop—he eats it for a potassium hit because he runs on a keto diet and needs quick brain fuel for talking. This small, odd detail sets the tone for a wide-ranging interview that moves from near-death medical scares and the aftermath of 9/11 to the grinding machinery of Denmark’s family court system. Bjerrehuus is 49, a former top model who lived in New York through the early 2000s, and is now back in Denmark. He is candid about his failures, his sorrows, and the things that still make him want to live.

The illness that broke his arrogance

The most harrowing story Bjerrehuus tells is about his first son, Oscar. When Oscar was just a few weeks old, the family—Bjerrehuus and his then-partner Anna—took him on a modeling job to Cape Town, South Africa. The baby caught what seemed like a cold, but when they returned to New York, he turned yellow. It was bilirubin: his white blood cells were attacking his red blood cells, a life-threatening autoimmune response. At Mount Sinai hospital, doctors told them it was “50-50.” Oscar lay with dry gums and a yellow tint, his heart rate monitored constantly—if it went over 200, they knew he would die.