Model 'brought publicity upon herself'

By CAHAL MILMO

The supermodel Naomi Campbell was accused yesterday of walking into "Hannibal Lecter's cage" by courting publicity in her private life and then complaining when a newspaper publicised details of her drug addiction.

The allegation came during a theatrical second day of evidence in her High Court damages claim against the Mirror, which photographed her leaving a Narcotics Anonymous meeting and revealed details of her battle to overcome her addiction, allegedly to cocaine.

Piers Morgan, editor of the Mirror, said his newspaper had been justified in printing its story and the photographs because Campbell was an icon for young people and she had committed a serious criminal offence by taking drugs. She had laid herself open to the exposure of her addiction therapy by previously drawing attention to her private life.

Morgan told the court: "Some celebrities relentlessly invade their own privacy, like Naomi Campbell, and when they do this they, in my view, abrogate any rights to privacy.

"If you are going to voluntarily enter Hannibal Lecter's cage you are eventually going to get nibbled on the back of the neck.

"I have the point of view that celebrities who talk openly in public often for personal gain cannot then turn around and bleat about privacy as so many of the current mode do."

During cross-examination, he denied threatening to make Campbell's life "a living hell", an accusation he called "totally absurd".

Campbell, 31, is suing the newspaper for breach of confidence, an invasion of privacy and breach of the Data Prevention Act over a front-page article on February 1 last year headlined "Naomi: I am a drug addict".

Earlier the London-born model was accused of "telling whoppers" over her claim that her privacy was grossly invaded by a newspaper article about her drug addiction therapy sessions.

Court 13 at the Royal Courts of Justice was shown footage of the model insulting an aircraft passenger after she was filmed with a video camera while asleep.

The court also heard claims that the PR guru Matthew Freud had vowed to help Campbell change the law on media intrusion.

Under cross-examination by Desmond Browne, QC, for Mirror Group Newspapers, Campbell was asked about an interview she gave to the Sunday Times, a day after publication of the article in the Mirror, in which she said of the offending piece: "I saw it and I got upset for five minutes".

Campbell told the court that she had in fact been referring to a different article about her by the Mirror columnist Sue Carroll which described Campbell as being as effective as a "chocolate soldier" in her campaigning work for the anti-fur charity Peta, a phrase which the model claimed was racist.

Pointing out that the columnist's piece was not published until five days after the Sunday Times interview, Browne said: "This is another of your whoppers, isn't it?

Campbell denied she had been untruthful, saying she had been confused.

In a further exchange, Campbell accused Freud, owner of the Freud Communications PR company, of deceiving her by promising that the Sunday Times article would also feature the pop stars Robbie Williams and Geri Halliwell complaining about media intrusion.

She told the court: "When I first saw the Mirror [article], Matthew Freud phoned and said 'I am coming over and I am going to help you'. He said 'I'm coming round because we are going to change the law'. He said there were two other celebrities who he worked for and he proceeded to set up an interview with the Sunday Times."

The court was told that prior to the Mirror articles Campbell's management company had paid Freud's firm £15,000 for "crisis PR" after a series of allegations made against the model by members of her staff. Campbell said she was not aware of the payment.

The judge, Justice Morland, was shown a video excerpt from a fly-on-the-wall style documentary for the VH1 music channel, entitled Fashion Kingdom: Naomi Conquers Africa, as lawyers for the Mirror sought to prove that the model had readily disclosed intimate details about herself.

The footage featured Campbell struggling with fellow passengers who had taken video footage of her as she slept while travelling to South Africa on a fundraising trip.

Campbell is seen telling her fellow catwalk star Kate Moss how she called the female passenger an "ugly bitch" before then threatening to have both of the travellers stopped by the African National Congress on arrival.

Asked about a subsequent claim that Nelson Mandela had hailed her as a role model, Campbell said: "If you are asking me if I call myself a role model, I never have. I'm a human being. I make mistakes, so don't put me on a pedestal because I am going to fall off."

The case continues.

- INDEPENDENT