Stripped of her title, the beauty queen caught up in row over her topless past
IT may be billed as a wholesome beauty pageant for ‘inspirational’ married women.
But a row has erupted after a Mrs World contestant was stripped of her title following an anonymous tip-off about her previous life as a lads’ mag model.
Edinburgh-born Natalie Paweleck was delighted to be crowned Mrs Scotland at the UK leg of the international event.
But days later judges received an email from an unnamed source disclosing that 13 years earlier – under her maiden name Natalie Pike – she had posed topless for publications including FHM and Zoo.
The organisers ruled the mother of one, a charity volunteer and a match day presenter for Manchester City, had breached entry requirements by not declaring the risqué photo-shoots in her early twenties.
Yesterday, the 35-year-old, who was encouraged to enter the contest by her doctor husband, claimed she had no idea her glamour modelling work a decade ago would be an issue.
She said: ‘My modelling past is not something I have ever hidden.
‘The decisions we make when we are young might not be the ones we would make now, but that doesn’t mean we should be ashamed of those choices or be made to feel ashamed.
‘I am proud of what I achieved. I was on the cover of the world’s highest selling men’s magazine and won the UK’s most popular modelling competition. The choices I made in my early twenties have made me the woman I am today – and I like and respect that woman.’
Mrs World, which originated in the United States, was launched in 1984 as an alternative to Miss World.
Open to married women only, it is described as ‘a platform for inspirational married women to make themselves heard and reach out to others’ and wants to ‘set an example to others that success in work, life and relationhours ship is possible’. Mrs Paweleck, who volunteers for Cancer Research UK and the Wellspring homelessness charity, was keen to use her position to promote breastfeeding.
She claims she was not told about the rules on topless modelling when she entered the competition. The only stipulations were that she was over 18, married and born in the country she would represent.
On the day of the final, she received paperwork to sign with a ‘vague’ code of conduct about having not posed nude ‘during or prior to’ the event. But as her magazine work was in 2005, she did not think it would be relevant.
She was crowned Mrs Scotland on September 9 – and was excited about travelling to China in March to compete in the Mrs World final. Thirty-six later she received the bombshell call. She said: ‘The Mrs World UK director told me she had received an anonymous email threatening to expose me if I wasn’t disqualified.
‘ She explained the quoted line in the code of conduct about topless modelling had in fact meant ever, which had been very ambiguous. The team at Mrs World overseas confirmed to me they had not enforced such rules.’
Mrs Paweleck felt her only option was to stand down and was replaced by runner-up Alana Stott.
Mrs World UK spokesman Jamie Love said: ‘When you apply to go to Mrs UK World, there is an application form. The information we got from one entrant was not correct. For the pageant to be legitimate and fair, we had to decrown Mrs Scotland – not because she posed topless, but because it was not disclosed.’
Mrs Paweleck confirmed she has instructed lawyers to contact Mrs World UK to recover the costs incurred during the competition and to seek an official apology.
‘My past is not something I have ever hidden’