dingostew.com

For those of you not familiar with this, Lara Bingle was the face of Australian tourism in the famous "Where the bloody hell are ya?" ad.
About 2 years ago, she was dating an AFL footballer named Brendan Fevola. At the time, he took a photo of her in the shower on his phone and sent it around to all his team-mates, who then sent it on to other mates etc etc. Its believed that most footy players in the league have seen this photo!!

Anyway, now its gone public and theres uproar. Brendan Fevola is getting the blame for it since he was the one who took the photo and distributed it, and judging by the photo, she obviously wasnt posing for it. She is now suing Fevola!

Heres an extract from the news:

Lara Bingle's agent has denied reports the model and WAG will be paid $200,000 to tell her side of the nude photo scandal.

Publicist Max Markson said Bingle had not signed any exclusive agreements with any magazines or television stations to tell the country how she reacted to the distribution of a nude photograph taken by AFL bad boy Brendan Fevola.

"There are no contracts at all," Mr Markson said, adding that he did not know where the rumours came from.



Bingle had hired a lawyer in her effort to sue the Brisbane Lions forward for breach of privacy, defamation and misuse of her image, Mr Markson said.

But she had not agreed to talk to Woman's Day or New Idea, as was reported last night in News Ltd publications.

Woman's Day published the photo in this week's issue.

It was taken in 2006 during a brief affair between Bingle and Fevola, and shows a then-teenaged Bingle topless with a distressed look on her face.

"Lara was 19 when the photo was taken," Mr Markson told The Age on Tuesday.

"It's evident from the photo it was taken without consent, without permission and totally without taste."

The photograph was allegedly snapped while Bingle was in the shower and was trying to cover her body with her hand.

Mr Markson said earlier in the week that Fevola had behaved "like a bully" and in taking legal action Bingle was striking a blow for women's rights.

"What she's doing is very brave. She's stood up for herself and she's standing up for women's rights," he said.

"Fevola is touted as a football hero. He's looked up to by young kids but he sends a dangerous message to our kids that this is acceptable, but it's not acceptable."

The AFL is reportedly investigating Fevola's conduct surrounding the issue.

He told officials the picture was taken on a pre-paid mobile phone that had since disappeared, News Ltd reported.

Actually, heres a better article from the heraldsun.




SO the picture that everyone knew about, making its way from phone to phone of footballers and their friends, is finally in the public domain - Lara Bingle in the shower photographed by her then lover Brendan Fevola - and the model plans to sue AFL's official bad boy for breach of privacy, defamation and misuse of her image.
This not-so-happy snap was taken years ago - the pair frolicked for five weeks in 2006 – so why has it only now appeared on the page of a tabloid magazine?

And if privacy is the issue here, why is Bingle’s new agent – Max Markson, not known for his retiring demeanour at the best of times – bouncing around between television sofas and talkback radio stations making sure this whole debacle is lodged firmly in the public consciousness, just in case we missed it?

If defamation is the problem, what defamatory stuff is she claiming Fev is saying about her? That she’s a woman who washes?

Misuse of her image ... as opposed to the wholesome rural portfolio that brought her naked form to the attention of German magazine readers and happy online viewers everywhere?

Don’t remember anyone heading for the courtroom that day, just the extra traffic causing the website to crash.

As Julia Gillard was moved to express yesterday, "For someone to take a photograph of someone else ... which obviously may show them in a compromising circumstance and then disseminate it without their consent is the wrong thing to do."

So, what we’re really seeing here is the indignation of a girl poorly served by a former lover.

Well, tell us something new.

Lara Bingle is, sadly, not the first to discover that the person she happily cuddled up to was less than chivalrous about protecting her charms after the demise of the relationship.

Many a female celebrity has had to grin and bear it when their old high school sweethearts suddenly develop elephant-like memories when it comes to talking up their probably awkward teenage couplings when, invariably "she was insatiable" – what else?

Most recently, American singer Jessica Simpson had to squirm through professional rake John Mayer telling anyone who’d listen about their "napalm" year together – I think he was trying to flatter her, but he’s only gone to the front of the queue of shallow men incapable of keeping quiet.

What was Bingle really expecting? The married footballer she was sleeping with NOT to brag to his pals about the model he was seeing on the side?

Four years later, she should be having the time of her life - a successful model with contracts running into millions of dollars, living in a penthouse beachside flat and engaged to one of the country’s most popular sportsmen.

But suing an ex-boyfriend over long-forgotten Kodak moments are not the actions of "a very brave girl" as Max Markson would have us believe, but someone hungry for attention and control.

The best revenge on her former lover would be to have a good and happy life, secure in the knowledge she’s no longer with Fev, but someone devoted, discreet and, above all, different.

If this is true, it’s time then for Lara Bingle to turn the other cheek.

nah she wasnt. she was wearing a bikini! Sure she was only like 18 in them ads!

She WAS topless in some German GQ maazines tho. They were so popular that the website actually went down with all the people visiting to see her topless photos!!

Shes pretty hot alright, but shes no cheryl tweedy!