'Exploited' Bingle hits back

MICHAEL CLAYTON-JONES/The Age

POPULAR COUPLE: Australian cricketer Michael Clarke and his fiancee Lara Bingle at the Allan Border Medal event in Melbourne last month.

Relevant offers

Celebrities

Can Paris Hilton save her image? Lopez forks out for beau's new look Whitney to have private memorial Lady Gaga confirms second show SI Swimsuit cover unveiled Katy Perry hits back at ex Hugh Hefner's son arrested Heidi Klum and Seal to reconcile? Diddy rushed to hospital Web humorists hit new low

Lara Bingle says she never wants to speak to AFL star Brendan Fevola again in the wake of last week's nude photograph scandal.

The 22-year-old said she was not interested in an apology from the Brisbane Lions forward, who sent fellow players a topless shot of a distressed-looking Bingle during a brief affair between the two in 2006.

"Actually, it's gone way beyond an apology and I would prefer not to speak to him," she told Woman's Day magazine.

Bingle called on the AFL to take action against Fevola and any other players who passed along the image, which was taken as the then-19-year-old model stepped out of the shower.

"I think it's absolutely necessary," she said.

"Like all top level sports, the AFL holds its players up to be role models in the community.

"What message would they be sending if they condoned this sort of behaviour?"

The six-page interview and photo shoot appears a week after the same magazine published the photo alongside a story alleging Bingle's three-year, "often volatile" union with cricketer Michael Clarke was under strain.

Bingle said she and Clarke, who announced their engagement nearly two years ago, said they had not yet set a wedding date but were very happy.

"He's been amazing," she said.

"Michael is really supportive.

"He supports me in the ups and downs that have happened in my life.

"He is always there for me."

Bingle denied speculation the scandal, which drew condemnation from Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and former PM John Howard, was cooked up by her new agent Max Markson.

"This is anything but a publicity stunt," she said.

"It has been terribly humiliating for me.

"This is why I wanted to speak to the same magazine and to the same readers who would have seen the photo and read the article in last weeks' edition.

"This is my attempt to reduce the damage caused to me when Brendan circulated the photo."

Bingle, who is said to have netted up to $200,000 for the interview, though her agent denies this, said she felt betrayed by Fevola.

"I also feel exploited and compromised by the release of a photograph I never gave permission to him to take, and one he promised he had deleted when he realised how upset I was that he would do that," she said.

Bingle said she was naive to trust Fevola, who was married at the time, to the extent that she did.

"I can't believe how trusting I was but I was 19 at the time," she said.

Bingle is suing Fevola for breach of privacy, defamation and misuse of her image.

She told the magazine she was trying to regain control of the situation.

"It's important for me to try and restore my own sense of dignity and self respect by taking control of the situation and showing everyone that it is not cool or funny to sen dan unauthorised nude photograph of someone to your friends," Bingle said.

- © Fairfax NZ News