Model Vanessa Hessler Fired for Praising Her Qaddafi Ex-Boyfriend

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Vanessa Hessler, a Rome-based American model who has worked for Prada, L'Oreal, Guess, and Calvin Klein, has been fired from an endorsement deal after speaking out about her connection to Libya's fallen Qaddafi family. Hessler used to date Moatassem Qaddafi, a son of dictator Moammar Qaddafi, and was asked about this relationship in an Italian magazine interview. "We, France and the United Kingdom, financed the rebels but people don't know what they are doing. The Qaddafi family is not how they are being depicted, they are normal people," she said.

"I didn't have any contact with him since the uprising broke out, but our relationship was one of passion," she added, also referring to her relationship with the younger Qaddafi as "a beautiful love story." After news of the interview broke, Hessler's contract as the spokesmodel for a German telecom company called Alice was terminated.

"Vanessa Hessler's relationships are private business. However we cannot accept her comments on the Libya conflict," said a representative for Telefonica Europe, which owns the Alice brand. As for Moatassem Qaddafi, he was killed in the recent rebel uprising against his father's government.
· "A Normal Family" [Vogue UK]
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