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, Mi ...

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. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair, living in hospitable climates, and no ...

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

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

, 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. Since 2020 it is used to honour women with special achievements. History In the past there were several organisations which claimed 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 Miss World 1956, 1956 Miss World contest, representing W ...

. The runner-up was Kimberley Santos 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 to resign because of allegations that there were nude photos of her. In a 2008 interview with ''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. 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 gossip magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. ''Paris Match'' has been considered "one of the world's best outlets for photojournalism". ...

Living in the United States

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

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. She appeared in

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

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