She initially tried to avoid testifying in the UN war crimes tribunal against Charles Taylor, a former ruler of Liberia, but in the end Naomi Campbell wasn’t left with much of a choice.
The 40-year-old supermodel took the stand today in the Netherlands court to talk about the blood diamonds she was given by Taylor back in 1997.
Naomi explained, "I had never heard of Charles Taylor before. I had never heard of the country Liberia before. I had never the term 'blood diamonds' before … This is someone who, I read on the Internet, has killed thousands of people. I don't want my family endangered in any way."
Nevertheless, Campbell would have been imprisoned for 7 years had she refused to testify. Of the night she received the diamonds, Naomi said two men came to her hotel room and knocked at the door.
"They said, 'A gift for you,' and then gave me a pouch … I took it, said, 'Thank you,' and closed the door. There was no explanation, no note. When they gave me the pouch I just put it close to my bed and went back to bed. [The next morning] I opened the pouch … I saw a few stones. They were very small, dirty-looking stones."
