Kotlarska narrowly escaped death when, at the last minute, she backed out of flying on
TWA Flight 800, which crashed with no survivors off
Long Island, New York on 17 July 1996.
Rico Puhlmann, who was Kotlarska's chief photographer, was among the victims. She was stabbed to death by a
stalker outside her home in the
Maślice district of Wrocław, on 27 August 1996. The attack also injured her husband, Jarosław Świątek. ==In popular culture==