Gabriella Brum (born 1962) is a German-British former model and beauty queen who won the 1980

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss Int ...

and resigned 18 hours later, initially claiming her boyfriend disapproved. She stated that this was because of the pressure from the news media, though there were also allegations that she had posed

nude Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...

in a magazine. The first runner-up in the pageant,

Kimberley Santos Kimberley Santos (born August 21, 1961) is a Guamanian beauty queen who became Miss World 1980 (representing Guam) after Germany's Gabriella Brum resigned the day after her victory. The pageant was held in London, United Kingdom. After living ...

from

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, then assumed the title.

Biography

Brum's mother, Angelika Roure, had met soldier, Edward Brum from London in 1961, but separated from him after a few years. The daughter, Gabriella Brum attended the Lessing High School in Berlin from 1976 to 1980, but left school in favor of a desired film career. She worked under various pseudonyms and met acting director, cameraman and producer Wolfgang Benno Bellenbaum (1928-1984), with whom she went to Los Angeles where she worked as a model.

Miss Germany (1980)

On 26 June 1980, Brum was crowned

Miss Germany Miss Germany is a national beauty pageant in Germany. The contest was held for the first time in 1927. History In the past there were several organisations which claimed the title: In the 1920s already, German jurisdiction decided that the tit ...

at the International Congress Center (ICC) in Berlin. A Time article from July 1980 shows that her election to Miss Germany met with criticism. So it was complained that Brum no longer lived in Germany as the main residence.

Miss World (1980)

On 13 November 1980, Brum won the

pageant in London, making her the second German to win the title, after

Petra Schürmann Petra Schürmann-Freund (; 15 September 1933 – 14 January 2010) was a German actress, model, TV announcer and beauty queen who won Miss World 1956. Biography Schürmann won the 1956 Miss World contest, representing West Germany. ...

. The runner-up was

from

. The following day, Brum resigned on the grounds that her boyfriend disagreed with her new obligations and she "wanted to be with Benno instead of flying through the world under a strict contract for a year". Later, it was revealed she had been forced her to resign because of allegations that there were nude photos of her. In a 2008 interview with ''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'', photographer Wolfgang Heilemann said he had taken the photos of Brum naked in bed having a pillow fight with her boyfriend, as part of a Miss World cover story for

Paris Match ''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly news magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. History and profile A sports news magazine, ''Match l'intran'' (a play on ''L'Intransigeant' ...

Living in the United States

In the early years, Brum was a successful model in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. She appeared in

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

5/1981. In 1981, she married Wolfgang Benno Bellenbaum; they soon separated. Her husband shot himself at the age of 55 in his apartment in Encino, a district of Los Angeles, and his body was identified by Brum. A farewell letter was found. An article on the January 2012 United States Online News (USSPost) indicated that she was still based in Los Angeles at the time.

References

External links