Elaine Starchuk is often introduced as Tommy Lee’s first wife. Their marriage was brief, but it has followed her name through decades of celebrity stories. Her own career took a different path: she worked as a model, then built an eyelash extension and training business in Canada.
For readers searching for Elaine Starchuk today, the harder question is what she is doing now. Her earlier work and a 2013 accident are well documented. Recent details about her business and personal life are much harder to confirm. Here is what is known about her modelling years, her marriage to Lee, the work she built afterwards and the limits of the public record in 2026.
Quick Bio
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full name | Elaine Margaret Starchuk |
| Known for | Modelling career, beauty business and brief marriage to Tommy Lee |
| Early career | Model |
| Modelling began | At around 18 years old |
| Magazine work | Modelled for Playboy and Penthouse |
| Other interest | Fitness and bodybuilding |
| Former husband | Tommy Lee |
| Marriage year | 1984 |
| Marriage ended | 1985 |
| Place in Lee’s marriage history | His first wife |
| Later career | Eyelash extension specialist and trainer |
| Business name | Enlightened Lashes |
| Business focus | Eyelash services and professional training |
| Business location | British Columbia, Canada |
| Training work | Developed courses for lash technicians |
| Accident date | 13 May 2013 |
| Accident location | A delicatessen in Langley, British Columbia |
| Court case | Starchuk v. Hannig |
| Court award in 2016 | C$442,540.70 for injuries and related losses |
| Life today | Recent personal and business details are not reliably confirmed |
Elaine Starchuk’s modelling career
Starchuk began modelling at around 18. In testimony given during a British Columbia court case, she said she had modelled for Playboy and Penthouse. Her appearance was an important part of that work, and modelling remained the career most often mentioned when she appeared in later reports.
It was not her only interest. She also took part in competitive bodybuilding in 1999. In the years that followed, she spent time at the gym and practised yoga. Before a serious accident changed her routine, she described herself as fit and active.
Some online biographies fill her early life with exact dates, personal stories and career claims. Many of those details are difficult to check. Her own court testimony gives a firmer starting point: she worked as a model, cared deeply about fitness and later learned a new skill that became the basis of her business.
That move from modelling to beauty work makes sense without turning it into a dramatic reinvention. Both fields involve appearance, but the jobs are different. As a model, Starchuk was the person in front of the camera. In her later work, she applied eyelash extensions, taught the technique and managed training for others.
Her brief marriage to Tommy Lee
Starchuk married Tommy Lee in 1984. He was the drummer for Mötley Crüe, and she became his first wife. Their marriage had ended by 1985, before his later marriages to Heather Locklear and Pamela Anderson brought even more attention to his private life.
Accounts disagree about precisely how long Starchuk and Lee were together. Some give a striking number of days, while others describe a longer period before the divorce. The established point is that the marriage was short. An exact day count is less useful when the published versions do not agree.
Because Lee remained famous, his marriage history continued to appear in entertainment coverage. Starchuk’s name was brought up again and again as part of that story. It is easy to see why readers become curious about her, but the marriage gives only a small glimpse of her adult life.
By the 2010s, Starchuk was working in British Columbia’s beauty industry. Her public story was no longer centred on rock music. It was about clients, courses and the careful handwork needed to apply eyelash extensions.
How she built her beauty business
Starchuk said she developed the idea for an eyelash extension business in 2012. She travelled to Las Vegas for a class, learned the technique and decided to create a course of her own. She applied extensions to clients and began training others to do the same.
The procedure called for patience and precision. Each extension was attached to an existing lash using tweezers. An appointment could take one or two hours, and the work required her to sit in a fixed position while concentrating on very small details.
Her business became known as Enlightened Lashes. A Better Business Bureau listing identifies it as a beauty school in Surrey, British Columbia, and names Starchuk as a manager. Her later career was therefore more than a change in title from model to business owner. It involved doing the work, developing lessons and helping other people learn the skill.
At the time of her court case, she described plans to expand the training side of the business. She had already trained another person to teach eyelash extensions. Alongside appointments, she handled tasks such as organising courses, buying supplies and preparing training guides.
This is a central part of the Elaine Starchuk today story. Her marriage to Lee is easy to summarise in a sentence. Her business took years of learning, teaching and management.
The 2013 accident and its effect on her work
On 13 May 2013, Starchuk was standing inside a delicatessen in Langley, British Columbia, when a vehicle crashed into the shop. The impact pushed her against a wall. She later brought a civil claim over her injuries, and the case was decided in 2016.
The accident mattered especially because her work depended on steady hands and fine control. At the time of the trial, Starchuk said pain and problems with her hands meant she could no longer apply lashes or demonstrate the technique as she had before.
She remained involved in the business then, but her role had changed. Other trainers taught classes while she dealt with bookings, supplies, emails and course materials. The court accepted that the crash had caused or contributed to continuing injuries and awarded her C$442,540.70 for several kinds of loss and future needs.
That award is sometimes mentioned in online biographies as though it reveals her wealth. It does not. It was compensation awarded in a specific legal case, not a statement of her net worth or the value of Enlightened Lashes.
The court decision provides an unusually detailed account of her working life in 2016. It also has a clear limit: it cannot tell us exactly how she recovered, worked or lived in the ten years that followed.
What is known about Elaine Starchuk today?
As of 2026, there is no reliable, detailed public account of Starchuk’s current daily life. Older records connect her to Enlightened Lashes Academy and to British Columbia, but they do not establish whether she is teaching classes now, managing the business in the same way or doing something else.
There is also uncertainty about the business’s current operations. Its former website address is being offered for sale. That alone does not prove the business has closed, just as an older business listing does not prove that it still runs regular courses.
The same caution applies to her personal life. A 2016 court record placed her in White Rock, British Columbia, at that time. It should not be used as proof of where she lives today. Claims about a current partner, children or exact net worth also need stronger evidence than the repeated details found on biography sites.
The clearest answer to “Where is Elaine Starchuk today?” is therefore a limited one. She is publicly known as a former model, Tommy Lee’s first wife and a woman who built an eyelash training business in Canada. What her life looks like in 2026 has not been reliably documented in the same detail.
Conclusion
Elaine Starchuk today remains a subject of curiosity partly because so little recent information about her is public. The documented story reaches well beyond her short marriage to Tommy Lee: she worked as a model, built a beauty training business and adapted her role after an accident affected her work. Her present life deserves the same factual care as her past. Where the record stops, it is better to leave the question open than to turn a guess into a biography.
Also read: Christopher Wilding: The Quiet Life of Elizabeth Taylor’s Son
(FAQs)
Who is Elaine Starchuk?
Elaine Starchuk is a former model who later worked in eyelash extensions and training in Canada. She is also known for her brief marriage to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee.
Was Elaine Starchuk Tommy Lee’s first wife?
Yes. Starchuk was Lee’s first wife. They married in 1984, and their marriage had ended by 1985.
What business did Elaine Starchuk build?
She built an eyelash extension and training business known as Enlightened Lashes. Her work included serving clients, developing courses and training other lash technicians.
What happened to Elaine Starchuk in 2013?
A vehicle crashed into a delicatessen in Langley, British Columbia, while she was inside. Her injuries affected her ability to carry out and demonstrate the detailed handwork involved in eyelash extensions.
Is Elaine Starchuk still running Enlightened Lashes?
Her past role in the business is documented. Available public information does not clearly establish whether she is running courses or managing its daily operations in 2026.
Where does Elaine Starchuk live now?
A court record said she lived in White Rock, British Columbia, in 2016. Her current home has not been reliably confirmed.
