PHOTO: Money from Bruni Photos is an Insult

Accepting money obtained from exploitation of the female body would be perceived as an insult, said Richner for Le Matin Dimanche.

Cambodian benefactors refused to accept money, precisely 45 thousand dollars, which is a part of the incomes of the auctioned photos of Carla Bruni sold to a Chinese collector for 91 thousand dollars.

Swiss pediatrician Beat Richner, head of a group which offers children medical help, refused the donation which was gathered at New York’s Christi’s, as the Cambodians do not allow the exploitation of the female body with lucrative purposes.

- My decision was taken out of respect for our patients and their mothers. Accepting money obtained from exploitation of the female body would be perceived as an insult – said Richner in an interview with Le Matin Dimanche.

The photograph, taken in 1993 by Michael Comte for Italian Vogue, reached a price 23 times higher than the expected one. The auction was held last months during the visit of Carla and her husband, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in Great Britain when all the public attention was upon her.

The artistic photograph was one of a series from a private collection for which also Kate Moss and Gisele Bundchen posed.

The profit from the auction will now be offered to a Swiss research institute which works in the process of recycling utilised water into drinkable water, Catwalkqueen reports.