Lara Bingle is trying to sue men's magazine Zoo for running bikini shots without her permission, but Cronulla model Lara Bingle seems to be alright with posing nude for another bloke's publication.
Fresh from being banned in the UK - where she is currently touring for Torvill and Dean's Dancing on Ice - following the "Where the Bloody Hell Are You?" campaign, Lara Bingle has now shown she is happy for the world to see her naked, as long as it's in a top-end magazine.
The release of the nude pictures - taken by Kiwi snapper Gavin O'Neill during a shoot in late 2005 - on the German website for men's magazine GQ could possibly jeopardise her defamation case against lads' mag Zoo Weekly.
Bingle, who shot to stardom as the face of Tourism Australia's international campaign, claimed the publisher of Zoo broke the law by running bikini shots without her consent.
The blonde bombshell claims she would never agree to pose for such a publication and in a statement of claim filed with the Federal Court last year, Bingle alleged she was defamed by a number of implications, including that she was the sort of model who would pose in a G-string bikini for the sexual gratification of men's magazine readers.
Zoo editor Paul Merrill remained tightlipped yesterday, but revealed that he knew about them before being approached by Confidential.
However, it is understood that they do form part of the mag's defence.
"Yes, we are aware of the photos, but it's up to the judge to decide if they're relevant to the case,'' Merrill said.
"All I can say is that the choice of the shoots she did before the tourism advertisement suggested she wasn't averse to being in men's magazines - she did a bikini shoot and a nude shoot.''
However, Bingle's agent Priscilla Leighton-Clarke - unaware the shots had emerged until approached by Confidential yesterday - insisted there was a stark difference between appearing in Zoo and the European magazine.
"The fact is, GQ is not considered a smutty magazine. It is a top-end fashion magazine. The judge has ruled that Zoo is a smutty magazine,'' she explained.
But there is more bad news for Bingle.
There are more nude shots up for grabs in the European market - but not being made available Down Under - and they are likely to be picked up as her star continues to rise there.
Picture of Laura Bingle nude by
Gavin O’Neill from
German GQ magazine.