Fallout from sex tape costs Blakely sponsorship deal
The fallout from the Konrad Hurrell sex tape scandal has affected Shortland Street star Teuila Blakely, who told The Diary she has received death threats, suffered a backlash in her home country Samoa and has lost a commercial partnership deal.
"I did lose a major sponsorship this week. I can't say who it is, but it was a lucrative deal with a big brand. It was very sad because they said, 'on a personal level we love and support you and we've had a great relationship with you'. For them, it's a moral issue. But I'm trying to take it in my stride," Blakely said.
Blakely, who told the Herald on Monday she was the woman in the private sex video with league star Hurrell, said she knew the matter had caused pain, humiliation and embarrassment to her family and the Samoan community. The 39-year-old soap star said she has suffered a backlash, but she's staying positive and has the support of her friends, family and Shorty colleagues.
"The reaction back home in Samoa has been quite full-on. It has really polarised the island. Samoa is a very Christian conservative place and Samoan women can't be seen to be sexual in any way,'' Blakely said.
"And adding to that, Konrad is Tongan. But you know, despite some of the negative reaction, I've had a lot of love and support too. I'm proud with the way I handled it and I'm moving on in a positive way.''
She added: "We are all entitled to our opinions, our beliefs, our lifestyles, our practices and our privacy. We are all entitled to be respected and not judged for our choices.''
Blakely did not want to comment on the $5000 fine Hurrell, 22, has copped from the Warriors and the social media counselling he has been ordered to undergo.
Early Mrs Dotcom revealed
She is seen in the media as the passive wife of extrovert Kim Dotcom, but Mona Dotcom wasn't always so shy and unassuming. In 2006 she went by the name Monica Verga, posing in various states of undress in a five-page spread for the Philippines edition of lads mag FHM.
Mona Dotcom. Photo /FHM Phillippines
Alas, The Diary can show you only the family friendly photos. In one pic, Mona wears merely a knowing look and dangly earrings that Christine Rankin would envy.
These days, Mona, 26, is a mother of five toting US$40,000 Hermes bags with a ladylike demeanour. But as an 18-year-old topless model in FHM, Mona, or Monica as she called herself then, told the mag she likes her "foot being kissed'', playing "PC game Warcraft'' and "bad-boy types who can sing well''.
In 2006, one year before she met her future husband at a Manila nightclub, Mona cherished her freedom, telling the lad mag she doesn't make plans and faces life with a devil-may-care attitude.
She said she used to sing in a band in her hometown, Davao, and pulled out of college in her first year, where she was studying tourism, to move to the bright lights of Manila.
There, Kim Dotcom, or Kim Vestor as court documents show he was then known, swept her off her feet.
It was a Cinderella story, of sorts. The high-flying, jet-setting life of superyachts, vacations and multi-million-dollar mansions. They wed in 2009.
Now, 40-year-old Dotcom is fighting extradition to the US, where he is facing charges over copyright infringement.
Mona is standing by him. Her husband is running the Internet Party, this week granting an interview to the BBC. Will his wife's past damage the freedom fighter image he's so carefully crafted?
The Diary contacted Mona yesterday and asked about her modelling work in FHM, but she was reluctant to talk about it.
"I can't comment about that,'' she said. Told she looked stunning in the magazine expose, Mona said: "Thank you, but I really don't want to comment about those photos.''
John Mitchell, PR man for the Internet Party, said Dotcom was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Cunliffe not camera shy
Labour leader David Cunliffe has relented.
Labour leader David Cunliffe Photo / Warren Buckland
He is allowing the Campbell Live cameras into his home today to film his part in the "At Home With the Leaders'' segment for the TV3 show. John Key, Hone Harawira and Russell Norman have all shown off their more relaxed sides and culinary skills to a nosy Kiwi audience.
After some hurdles, David and his legal beagle wife Karen will open the doors to their $2.5 million mansion on Marine Parade, considered the best street in Auckland's Herne Bay. The segment will go to air on Monday, and Campbell Live says there are no restrictions or conditions on the interviews with any of the leaders.
"We are looking forward to inviting New Zealanders into our home so they can better get to know me as a person, not just a politician. It will be take-us-as-you-find-us complete with chickens, a beehive, a dog, a cat and an election-year garden that could do with some weeding.''
