Ex-nude model to be US man in NZ
The United States Senate has confirmed Scott Brown, a Republican who supports waterboarding and once won the title of ‘‘America’s Sexiest Man’’, as US ambassador to New Zealand.
Strong speculation in February that he would be President Donald Trump’s pick prompted a backlash in New Zealand due to Brown’s controversial past, which includes an ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a TV host.
Brown, 57, has led a varied life, and was a promising basketball star as a youngster before embarking on a military career where he rose to the rank of colonel. He also spent years as a male model in the 1980s.
As a 22-year-old in 1982 he won Cosmopolitan magazine’s ‘‘America’s Sexiest Man’’ contest, posing nude in the centrefold.
Four years later, he married his wife, journalist Gail Huff. The couple have two adult daughters.
After taking up politics, he succeeded the late Ted Kennedy as senator in a surprise win in 2010 in Massachusetts.
He ran for full Senate in 2012, losing to the Democrats’ Elizabeth Warren.
As a Republican senator he endorsed the use of enhanced interrogation techniques – including simulated drowning known as waterboarding – in questioning terror suspects.
When Brown was nominated by Trump, a former US intelligence adviser in New Zealand, Paul Buchanan, said his appointment was ‘‘an insult’’, while the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand also expressed concern.
Last year Brown was accused of sexually inappropriate comments and putting his hands on the lower waist of a TV host. He denied the accusations.