Naomi Campbell & Taylor - Beauty & the Beast?

It must be fascinating and impressive to be a powerful dictator who after a flirting session with a beautiful and famous model, is able to add the cherry on the cake by giving her a couple of uncut diamonds. Not many can boast of such a feat. Well maybe it is not so fascinating or impressive considering that you could end up in The Hague as a prisoner charged with murder, rape, sexual enslavement, recruitment of child soldiers and other war crimes.


The testimony given last week by Naomi Campbell at former Liberian president Charles Taylor's trial at The Hague, left me rather confused. She claims that when Taylor's men knocked on her door to present her with the diamonds, she did not know who these men were or what the dirty looking stones were. Surely Naomi ought to give us more credit as far as our brain capacities are concerned? Having been a guru in the modelling and fashion world for years; surely she cannot claim that until that night, she had only ever seen polished diamonds? You have not reached the career heights that you have from being naive, Naomi dearest!

It is only after her former aide, Carole White revealed that Campbell and Taylor were flirting over the dinner table at the charity dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela, that the story has begun to take shape. Thanks also to another testimony given by actress Mia Farrow. It is becoming apparent that Naomi knew what the stones were, who the sender was and according to Farrow, she might have boasted about it at the breakfast table.


Even though some attempts have been made by Charles Taylor's defence to discredit these testimonies, we are rather inclined to stick to our suspicions that Naomi Campbell is hiding the complete truth. The fact that she resisted testifying at the Hague for months and had to be subpoenaed tells us that she has something to hide. Given her history of having a fiery temper and a tendency to assault aides, surely she would have punched Charles Taylor’s goons had she thought they were mere strangers delivering dirty stones from an unidentified giver? How would ordinary men have gained access to her room? I suspect that after her boasting the next morning, she realised that she had just put herself in a sticky spot, hence her decision to save herself by handing the gems over to Jeremy Ractliffe, the former head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.


We should not rush into making more dramatic conclusions, such as a hidden romance or a "Beauty and Beast" night of passion between Campbell and Taylor, but let us not be shocked if such "juicy" news were to be revealed to us with time. It makes one wonder how many of the world's ruthless killers are using blood diamonds and other ill-gotten wealth to secretly flirt, court and lure the belles that grace our magazine covers and TV screens.