Celebrity News

Naomi Campbell refuses to talk about ‘blood diamond’ (video)

Naomi Campbell is refusing to testify at the war crimes trial of former Liberian strongman Charles Taylor about a huge, uncut “blood diamond” he allegedly gave her in 1997 in South Africa, ABC News will report tonight on “Nightline.”

The excitable supermodel and the genocidal warlord were overnight guests of Nelson Mandela, correspondent Brian Ross reports, as was Mia Farrow, who has campaigned to bring attention to Taylor’s diamond-fueled campaign of terror over the Liberian border in Sierra Leone.

Farrow tells Ross she learned of the diamond at breakfast: “Naomi Campbell came down . . . she said during the night some men had knocked on her door and she, half-asleep, had opened the door and it was representatives of President Charles Taylor and that they had given her a huge diamond. And we were like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ ”

Ross narrates: “Prosecutors say Taylor was in South Africa . . . to buy weapons for the Sierra Leone rebels with blood diamonds and that Mia Farrow’s information about Campbell helps tie him to the purchase.”

But Campbell won’t cooperate. At a recent Fashion Week appearance to raise money for Haiti, she’s shown saying, “I didn’t receive a diamond and I’m not going to speak about that.” She then ends the interview by slamming the camera to the floor.

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Farrow says, “You don’t forget when a girlfriend tells you she was given a huge diamond in the middle of the night . . . There’s no doubt in my mind. All I thought was, ‘Gosh, what an amazing life Naomi Campbell has. Probably lots of men are always giving her diamonds.’ ”

Some 50 victims of the violence in Sierra Leone plan to testify against Taylor in the Hague, including Alusine Conteh, who first had his left hand chopped off by rebels. Then, “when they threatened to chop off his son’s hand, he offered up his right hand, which they chopped off,” ABC reports.

Farrow says Campbell should testify too: “Absolutely, step up and do your part.”