Former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, who's currently on trial at The Hague, is accused of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out during the 1990s Sierra Leone civil war. Taylor is also accused of using diamonds to finance the war and that's where Naomi comes in.
Actress Mia Farrow says in 1997 she, Naomi Campbell and Charles Taylor had been invited to stay overnight at the South African home of Nelson Mandela. Mia recalls the next morning at breakfast Naomi announcing to the table how one of Taylor's men had knocked on her door in the middle of the night and given her a huge uncut diamond. Mia went on to say,
"You don't forget when a girlfriend tells you she was given a huge diamond in the middle of the night . . . There's no doubt in my mind. All I thought was, 'Gosh, what an amazing life Naomi Campbell has. Probably lots of men are always giving her diamonds.' "But Naomi, who refuses to testify at The Hague, says it never happened. And when she was ambushed by an ABC crew at a Fashion for Haiti benefit and asked about it told them, "I didn't receive a diamond and I'm not going to speak about that!" before slapping their camera to the floor!
