KEY POINTS:
NEW YORK - Fashion model Naomi Campbell showed up in stiletto heels today to start serving a five-day sentence mopping floors and cleaning toilets at a New York garbage depot after pleading guilty to assaulting a housekeeper.
Wearing what appeared to be red-soled Christian Louboutin shoes but carrying a pair of black work boots, the 36-year-old model strode past a crowd of television cameras and reporters as she reported for her 8 am shift.
"She came ready to work. I understand she came in stiletto heels, but she changed into her combat boots," said Albert Durrell, a Sanitation Department spokesman.
Campbell was sentenced to five days community service after pleading guilty in January to reckless assault for throwing a mobile phone at her housekeeper during a dispute over a pair of jeans. She was also fined US$363 ($517) to cover the housekeeper's medical expenses and ordered to attend anger management classes.
For her sentence, the model will work seven hours shifts with two daily breaks for five days at the depot, where Sanitation officials said she would be assigned various routine cleaning tasks.
Campbell is the second celebrity sentenced to clean-up duty in New York of late. Singer Boy George, also British-born, was ordered to sweep streets for five days as punishment for drug possession and falsely reporting a burglary.
Campbell has been accused by at least three employees of assault. She has blamed her temper on lingering resentment of her father who abandoned her as a child.
(Additional reporting by Chip East and Karina Huber)
- REUTERS