KOO STARK

Kathleen Norris Stark (born April 26, 1956), better known as Koo Stark, is an American photographer and actress, known for her relationship with Prince Andrew. She is a patron of the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust, which runs the museum of the Victorian pioneer photographer.
Early life and education
Stark was born in New York. Her parents were Wilbur Stark, a writer and producer, and Kathi Norris, a writer and television presenter in New York City. She is the youngest of three children, the others being Pamela and Brad. At the time of her birth, the family was living in the city's Manhattan borough. Her grandfather, Edwin Earl Norris, was a cabinetmaker and musician, playing the French horn and the viola in the Newark Symphony Orchestra. Her mother's family were Presbyterians.After a divorce in the 1960s, her mother remarried.
Koo Stark attended the Hewitt School in New York and the Glendower Preparatory School in Kensington, London. After training at a stage school, she began her acting career.Personal life
Stark has been a practising Buddhist since meeting the Dalai Lama. She continues to live in London and is a member of the Chelsea Arts Club.She is a Patron of the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust, at Dimbola Lodge on the Isle of Wight, home of the Victorian pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
Relationships
Stark met Prince Andrew in February 1981, and they were close for some two years, before and after his active service in the Falklands War. Tina Brown has claimed that this was Andrew's only serious love affair.In October 1982 they took a holiday together on the island of Mustique. According to Lady Colin Campbell, Andrew was in love, and the Queen was "much taken with the elegant, intelligent, and discreet Koo".However, in 1983, after 18 months of dating, they split up under pressure from the Queen.In 1997, Prince Andrew became the godfather of Stark's daughter, and in 2015, when the Prince was accused by Virginia Roberts over the Jeffrey Epstein connection, Stark came to his defence, stating that he was a good man and she could help to rebut the claims.
Stark married Tim Jefferies, manager of a photographic gallery, in August 1984, at St Saviour's, Chalk Farm, with the minister, Christopher Neil-Smith, commenting that "It was such a quiet affair you wouldn't have known it was happening."They stayed together for a year, later divorcing.
She was later engaged to Warren Walker, an American banker, but he cancelled their wedding before the birth of their daughter, Tatiana, in May 1997.
Legal cases
In 1988, Stark brought a successful libel action against The Mail on Sunday over an untrue story headed 'Koo dated Andy after she wed'.In 1989, The Spectator reported that she had received £300,000 from one newspaper "for years of inaccurate persecution" and was also collecting money from others.
In another libel action in 2007, Stark won an apology and substantial damages from Zoo Weekly magazine, which had described her as a porn star. She commented "I am relieved that my name has been cleared of this false, highly damaging and serious allegation which has been proved to be completely untrue."In 2011 The Daily Telegraph called her an early "Kate Middleton prototype" and suggested that if she had not appeared in the film Emily early in her career she might have gone on to become the Duchess of York.
In November 2012, Stark appeared at Hammersmith magistrates court accused of stealing a painting by Dutch master Anthonie van Borssom, worth £40,000, from the home of her ex-partner, American financier Warren Walker.
In November 2022, Stark was awarded substantial damages and received an apology in a court case brought against Daily Mail's parent company for a 2019 article which falsely referred to her as "a soft porn actress".
Health
About 1993, Stark was hit by a taxi in Old Compton Street, London, losing two teeth and also suffering a deep wound to her forehead, after a collision with her camera. This accident left her temporarily disfigured, but the wound eventually healed leaving a small scar just under the hair-line.
In 2002 Stark was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy and chemotherapy, causing her to lose her hair for a time.