Naomi Campbell controversies: Supermodel's past scandals amid charity trustee ban over misconduct
British supermodel Naomi Campbell has been banned from acting as a charity trustee for five years over serious financial mismanagement at her organisation, Fashion for Relief.
This follows a 2021 investigation by the Charity Commission, which revealed that funds from Fashion for Relief were improperly used to cover Naomi Campbell’s personal expenses, including stays at a five-star hotel in Cannes, spa treatments, room service, and cigarettes.
Founded in 2005, Fashion for Relief aimed to unite the fashion industry to support poverty alleviation and global disasters through fundraising events in locations like Cannes and London. However, according to the commission, only 8.5% of the charity’s overall expenditure between 2016 and 2022 was spent on charitable grants.
The investigation further highlighted questionable expenses, including a 14,800 euro (£12,300) flight to transfer art and jewellery for a fundraising event and a 9,400 euro (£7,800) stay for the 54-year-old at a luxury hotel. Trustees failed to demonstrate how these costs were a reasonable use of charity resources, according to the commission.
Campbell's five-year ban prevents her from holding any senior management or trustee positions in any charity within England and Wales during this period. Two other trustees, Bianka Hellmich and Veronica Chou, have also been disqualified.
The ban is the latest in a long history of legal issues surrounding Naomi Campbell. Over the years, she has faced numerous lawsuits and criminal charges, including allegations of assault and cocaine possession. So, what are other controversies that the supermodel is known for?
In September 1998, Campbell pleaded guilty in a Canadian court to assaulting her former assistant Georgina Galanis in a fit of anger while staying in Toronto to shoot a movie, Prisoner of Love.
In January 2007, she apologised for hitting her maid in the head with a mobile phone, but said it was an accident. Before making her apology in Manhattan Criminal Court, she also pleaded guilty to reckless assault and misdemeanour.
She agreed to a sentence of five days of community service, anger management classes and payment of $363.32 in hospital bills for Ana Scolavino. She reportedly attended her community service wearing designer outfits, including fedoras, furs and upon completion of her sentence, a silver-sequined $300,000 Dolce & Gabbana gown.
In June 2008, Campbell admitted to two counts of assaulting a police officer, disorderly conduct, and using threatening language after an incident at Heathrow's Terminal 5. The disruption occurred when her flight to Los Angeles was delayed for nearly an hour. Campbell, angered by the situation, kicked and spat at police officers as they removed her from the plane, later accusing them of targeting her because of her race.
In August 2009, Campbell was convicted of assault by a Sicilian court after she scratched the eye of a paparazzo photographer who took pictures of her and her former boyfriend, Russian billionaire Vladimir Doronin.
A year later in a 2010 interview for British Vogue, Campbell said she entered into rehab for cocaine addiction in 1999 and then she joined Alcoholics Anonymous to get sober. It was reported that she stopped drinking around 2012.