Joanna Krupa

Krupa was born in Warsaw to father Zbigniew and mother Jolanta.^[2][3] Her father is an electrical engineer and her mother, who is originally from Tarnów, worked as a nurse in Poland.^[4] She has a younger sister, Marta, who is also a model.^[5] At the age of five, she and her family moved to the United States, settling in Lombard, Illinois.^[6][7] She trained in ballet until the age of nine, and at the age of 13, her mother enrolled her in a modeling school.^[4][8] She graduated from Glenbard East High School in 1997.^[9]

At the age of 20, Krupa moved to Los Angeles to pursue modeling, also working as a secretary to support herself.^[4][10] She was initially rejected by modeling agencies for her height and weight, however, her breakthrough came when she appeared on the cover of Maxim in the Netherlands.^[11][12] In addition to Maxim, she appeared on covers for Playboy, FHM, Ocean Drive. Inside Sport, Stuff, and Steppin' Out.^[13][14][15] She also made appearances in the film Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon and the television series Las Vegas and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.^[16][17]

In June 2009, she participated in The Superstars, partnering with Terrell Owens.^[18][19] Two months later, she was featured on the cover of Maxim and was announced as a contestant on the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars, partnering Derek Hough.^[20][21][22] They came in fourth place.^[23] She began hosting Top Model, the Polish spin-off of the reality television series America's Next Top Model, in 2010.^[24][25] In 2012, she joined the cast of The Real Housewives of Miami in its second season.^[26] That year, she also co-hosted After Party, a Dancing with the Stars post-show web series.^[27] She was included on the Maxim Hot 100 in 2014.^[28][29]

In March 2017, she starred in the film You Can't Have It alongside Rob Gronkowski.^[30] Later that year, she published a book titled Psie sprawki, was a contestant on Battle of the Network Stars, and was featured on the cover of Viva! in Poland.^[31][32][33] She hosted an episode of SNL Polska, the Polish version of Saturday Night Live, in 2018.^[34]

Krupa advocates for animal rights, and has appeared in several campaigns for animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).^[35][36] On December 2, 2009, PETA released a campaign for dog adoption which featured Krupa as an angel holding a crucifix to cover her breasts and genitalia. The campaign drew criticism from the Catholic League and the Anti-Defamation League, who deemed it offensive.^[37][38][39] In 2012, she organized a protest outside Dash, a Los Angeles boutique owned by the Kardashian sisters, after Khloé Kardashian renounced her support of PETA.^[40] In 2015, she posed in body paint for PETA's campaign to boycott SeaWorld.^[41]

In 2013, she co-founded an animal rescue group, Angels For Animal Rescue.^[42][43] She has also promoted several animal shelters in her native Poland.^[44][45][46]

Krupa was raised Roman Catholic.^[47] After several years of dating, she became engaged to nightclub owner and businessman Romain Zago in 2010.^[48] They married on June 13, 2013, in Aviara, Carlsbad, California.^[49][50] On July 10, 2017, she filed for divorce.^[51][52] The divorce was finalized several weeks later on August 17.^[53][54] On March 25, 2018, she announced her engagement to Douglas Nunes via Instagram.^[55][56] They married on August 4, 2018, in a private ceremony at the Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec, Poland.^[57] They welcomed a daughter, Asha-Leigh Nunes, in November 2019.^[58] In March 2023, Nunes filed for divorce.^[59] The divorce was finalized in October 2023.^[60]

^*Due to Len Goodman's absence in week 2, the 7 was awarded by stand-in guest judge Baz Luhrmann.
^**Due to illness, Derek Hough was unable to perform; Joanna Krupa performed this dance with Maksim Chmerkovskiy.