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| Cameron Diaz |
Los Angeles, July 15 (Reuters): Actor Cameron Diaz said yesterday that she posed topless for edgy photos more than 10 years ago in the hope of advancing her career as a model in the art magazine market.
But the Charlie’s Angels star told a Los Angeles jury that she had never signed a release for the pictures and felt betrayed when the photographer who took them tried to sell them at the peak of her career for millions of dollars.
Dressed in a brown sweater and light slacks, Diaz appeared at ease throughout her testimony against photographer John Rutter, who took the pictures of the then-unknown 19-year-old Diaz in 1992. Rutter, 42, has denied charges of forging Diaz’s signature on a model release form and of attempted grand theft. He could face up to six years in prison if convicted. An earlier charge of extortion was dropped.
“The photos were to be used solely in publications of a quality that we agreed on,” said Diaz, adding that she would have been horrified had they ended up in a pornographic magazine.
Diaz, 32, said she had been excited about the May 1992 shoot because it was an opportunity to break out of a teenage modelling career that had been mainly confined to department store catalogues. She also said she did not object to the content of the photos Rutter took.
“I thought my breasts looked good. At least I had that going for me,” she said under cross examination, drawing laughs from the courtroom.
Some of the photos ? showing Diaz in fishnet stockings, leather boots and a bustier ? were shown in court. The actor said others taken at the session showed her topless.