Monday 26 April 2010

Small two-bedroom starter

Naomi Campbell must be thanking her lucky stars for Gisele Bündchen. Just days after she mistakenly let her guard slip during an interview , along comes Gisele to redirect the bad buzz away from the Streatham stunner.

Naomi's contretemps with a reporter from ABC occurred when the brave (some might say suicidal) journalist decided to question her about her taste in jewellery. Ignoring the fact that Naomi's fiery temperament would put most Greek gods to shame, the intrepid inquisitor asked Naomi whether the allegations were true that she had received a blood diamond from former Liberian leader Charles Taylor.

Naomi rocked her best 'bitch face' and stormed off, slapping the camera on her way out. Perhaps she thought she'd recognised an old assistant. Hopefully, the TV crew had been smart enough to hide their iPhones before the interview began.

Still, once again Naomi's bad-girl antics have been gobbling up the column inches. So heaven be praised for her old mate Gisele, who has selflessly (and unwittingly) given the press a great new supermodel slip-up story to focus on.

The Brazilian beauty and her husband, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, have announced plans to build their new family home in Brentwood, California. The problem is, at 20,000 square feet, it's going to make Heathrow's Terminal 5 look like a potting shed.

As well as a covered bridge, six-car garage, butler's quarters, wine bar and lagoon pool, the vast property also features an elevator, despite the fact that it's only two stories tall. And that she's tall enough to crawl through an upstairs window without a ladder.

OK, it's their money and they can spend it how they like. And maybe they need a little extra space now that little baby Benjamin is growing up fast.

Unfortunately though, it's not the best example to be setting when you're a United Nations environmental ambassador. Critics are concerned about the amount of materials needed to develop, build and maintain such a gargantuan property, with one architect arguing "A 20,000 square-foot house - the resources that it takes to put it together and the land that it needs, this just can't happen anymore."

Gisele and Tom aren't the first golden couple to build a house that can be seen from space, and they certainly won't be the last. It's just a shame that Gisele didn't take her ambassadorial responsibilities more seriously. It looks like the easiest gig in the world - turn up, smile for photos, look ravishing in a slogan-covered T-shirt and offer a few choice soundbites about deforestation. The hard work comes in living the values that you're supposed to be endorsing.

With climate change possibly the most contentious issue in American politics today, this is precisely the kind of hypocrisy that Republicans will use to smear the entire environmental movement. And all for the sake of a kitchen that's an hour ahead of the bedroom.

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