Miss France asked to stand down
An interesting news item about Miss France has surprised France during the last few days - the recently elected Miss France is now being asked to stand down as the winner.
It seems that three years ago she posed for some ‘inappropriate’ photographs, one involving floating on a crucifix in a swimming pool and the other ‘eating yoghurt in a suggestive manner’.
I’ve seen the first photo but not the second.
I won’t give a link to the pictures here because Valerie Begue (Miss France) did not approve the photos to be released - they have been sold by ‘a friend’ cashing in on her later success.
Now the pictures are perhap a bit on the edge, and I can see people of an earlier generation might be a bit surprised, and find the pictures inappropriate, but hounding someone for something they did in private three years ago seems a bit over the top to me.
Didn’t we all do silly things when we were young that we wouldn’t want held up to public scrutiny? Apparently not the ‘godmother’ of the Miss France competition, Genevieve de Fontenay, who has run the contest for the last 50 years and said:
“I have no desire to see her again. I certainly cannot see myself going around France escorted by a woman like that. As she is from Reunion, let her stay there!”
I can only say that Miss France is showing great restraint in not saying the same about Madame Fontenay. Perhaps next time a quiet phonecall would suffice rather than such an aggressive announcement to the press.
Harsh words indeed, and better reserved for the photographer who sold the photos than for Miss Begue herself.
That sucks.
But doesn’t it seem that those “inappropriate” photos are still a little tame for such a scandal? I mean seriously, look at the stuff other public figures do that goes almost unnoticed.
Oh well.
Pete