Celebrities would not be celebrities if they expected to be treated like the rest of us. Being famous, ‘adored’, sought after, rich and successful means giving up any sort of privacy at all.

If celebrities think that they can have privacy when it suits them, they need to get out of the limelight, including that which they revel in because it helps them.

If they think that their privacy has been invaded unnecessarily, they all have sufficient money to sue. Let’s not have any more laws to protect spoiled brats.

The public interest is as plain as the ratings and clicks on internet news sites. It's the story of the year.

The Lara interest is as plain as the $200k cheque, the sated craving for attention and successfully satisfied objective of self promotion. Max Markson take a bow. Mission accomplished Lara Bingle; unless of course she under-estimated the spine of her fiancée.

If she was so concerned about privacy, she wouldn't have given an interview to continue the momentum of the story, especially to the same magazine that published the photo. I'm sure if she really cared for her partner, she wouldn't have dragged him into her whole sordid saga for $200k, and would've rather quietly proceed with legal proceedings if that was all she was interested in. The public should be rightly suspicious that so many years after the picture was taken, and after many news organisations have had access to the picture, why now? Who convinced the magazine to show the picture?

In fact, if she'd gone about things differently, the PR would have been better in the longer term. She would stay the victim (which she rightly was after the photo that was distributed), she would stay a the brave feminist standing up to this sort of behaviour, and she'd keep her fiancée.

Now she's the Yoko Ono of cricket and a media whore. Though much richer and in the media spotlight. What is it they say about any publicity...

BTW: Obviously she wasn't too concerned about Fevola's partner and kids in all this, bringing up the infidelity again so publicly.

The only extenuating factor for Lara is that she's only 22, and patently not too bright.

Celebrity or not, one must not take and publish photoshoot from the scene in the shower or bed or otherwise private situation. Celebrity might have money to sue for breach of privacy, but average person does not have funds to spend on legal procedures in that regard. Do you think that published private photos would hurt only celebrity?

'one must not take and publish photoshoot from the scene in the shower or bed or otherwise private situation. '

That's not disputed Tatiana. Nice name BTW.

But what if a celebrity simultaneously wants sympathy while perpetuating the advancement of the photo and making money from the situation? Also what if the photo was taken in the midst of an extra-marital affair, and the profit from the exposure of this photo is at the expense of the wife and child of the person involved?

I'd be right behind Lara if she quietly went about legal proceedings.

Houellebecq:"the Yoko Ono of cricket "

Beautiful...

100% agree with Leigh on this one.

At the risk of being accused of envy, I'd go a little further and say what the bloody hell does Lara actually do to get her cars, rings and lifestyle. That wealth patently belongs to the more unassuming in society who actually go to work every day and do the hard yards.

I tune in to TV of an evening to become informed about what is happening out there in the real world. There are some real dramas going on believe it or not. But to be bombarded by Gossip Guru's wringing every drop of gory detail,every licentious leer makes me want to puke.
Does the 'affair' in "A Current Affair" have to invade personal relationships, probing for that titillating tit bit ?
Fortunately, I've got a remote control and can switch off and find meaningful content on the internet.

What amazes me is how quick those who adhere to moral relativism are suddenly absolutely adamant about their moral judgements. So sleeping with a married man is okay but having a photograph taken of you is worse than cheating. Instead of chasing the bucks and attracting publicly from these events both Fevola and Bingle should be saying sorry for being extremely poor role models and betraying other family members. Oh that is right everyone is a victim these days. The faith secularist have with moral relativism continues to produce its logical outcome.

RobP

Most of her wealth is that of her boyfriend who plays games for a living. Boring game at that.

Taking a photo of someone having a shower should be highly illegal. Not sure if there is anything to argue about. It is disgusting. Celebrity or not, the fact is nobody should have to even be provoked into a re-action on the subject. The thought of all those ugly, over paid, under brained footy players leering at their mobile phones to see her image makes me want to puke. If it had been me when I was younger I would be acting way worse than the young lady concerned. Not even human behaviour for crying out loud. Now the NFL are crying? He admitted it took the photo and they stand behind him. I spit at that whole organisation and its culture. I really do, boys silent to prtoect each other but loose lipped when it comes to women. They gross me out.

Yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!

Yet another example of the prurience and infantile nature of the readership of Woman's Day. That rag would have only paid that much money if it was convinced that it would increase its sales to cover the cost of chequebook journalism.

Fevola should not have taken the photo without consent, but he was chosen by Bingle as a partner because of him being a 'bad boy'. What the bludy 'ell else could she expect? She played with fire, and got burnt, and then attracted further attention, figuratively fanning the flames.

But also, perhaps there should be laws against taking such photos, in a private place without consent, and further laws making it unlawful to distribute them. (Anything done in public is fair game, as there should be no expection of privacy in a public place).

This entire episode should stand as a warning against the cult of celebrity, but it won't. Bingle will be out of the news next week, and the Woman's Day will move on to some other pseudo-sensational story of little merit.

Did not the woman in question wittingly or unwittingly expose herself (pardon the pun)to potential unsavoury publicity?

Have I missed something? The photo of Ms Bimbo Bingle is not particularly 'revealing' in the full sense of 'intimate' happy snaps nor is it very flattering. Perhaps this was the problem? In fact if it had not been pointed out to the world and his dog that she was the subject of said portraiture, I doubt whether it would have gone much further than a few leery mate's mobiles.

Laura wants her 15 plus minutes of fame (infamy) and quite frankly this whole fiasco has achieved just that. Someone nominate the girl for an Oscar please. Fortunately she does not have enough wealth to qualify as the Paris Hilton of Down Under which is just as well since impressionable young Australian women need much better role models to aspire to.

A few words of advice to all the "Laura's" out there:
#1 Stay away from "Bad Boys" - married ones especially.
#2 Should a "close friend" take a compromising photo which you object to and not erase the image when requested, take advantage of your "special relationship" to gain access to the camera / mobile involved and DELETE. Confiscate the Memory Card if necessary.
3# Don't use any 'scandal' resulting from distribution of such images as an opportunity to sell your sordid little story to pathetic magazines - if you value any remnant of credibility you still possess.

Advice to media outlets and their 'Get a life - pleeeze' audiences - Find some real stories!

Let's hear no more about Laura until she does something that raises the bar rather than lower it further than it already is.

As for aspiring pornographers out there - here's a suggestion. We take a leaf out of the "less enlightened" cultures around the Globe and (re)introduce public flogging. Offences recounted and 6 of the best across an offenders bare backside in front of a jeering crowd would deter most idiots. And that for a great many other so-called minor crimes .... Would keep a lot of young smart-asses from ending up in jail ... but that's another thread

RobP "< At the risk of being accused of envy, I'd go a little further and say what the bloody hell does Lara actually do to get her cars, rings and lifestyle.
That wealth patently belongs to the more unassuming in society who actually go to work every day and do the hard yards."

I am not at all sure that it is Lara who is the stupid one here.

Because of her attractive face and body, she has easily lured a mindlessly moronic married man away from his family(remember she was not married),
and hooked up a famous, but weak, cricketer who helped finance her expensive lifestyle.

Aren't these men even more stupid than her?

My final comment concerns the lost age of chivalry.
I enjoyed some interludes in my day as a young rake.I was never inclined to become a complete cad and breathe a word which might sully a young woman's reputation let alone share a lewd photograph with my mates. Whatever else he is, Fevola is the last sportsman ? I would put up as a role model for my son, an aspiring young rugby hopeful.
That goes for the rest of the gangbanging, boozing scumbags with no respect for women.

This is a great website.
We also tried to do a legal analysis on the Bingle privacy argument. See us at fortnightlyreview.info
Look forward to your comments!

Suze,

>>Aren't these men even more stupid than her?<<

It's certainly true that birds of a feather flock together. So, you're probably right. Fevola's a moron and I think you're right about Clark.

TheMissus,

For the sake of fairness and completeness, I shouldn't let criticism stop at Lara. The whole media/sportsstar/celebrity circus is equally to blame for playing up to a prurient (of some kind) audience. So what if a cricketer can whack a ball 100m onto the roof of a pavilion? What's he doing that deserves the adulation and the big bucks? Entertainmant only keeps people occupied for a few hours. By the time it's finished, people go back to what they were doing and nothing has changed. Big deal. And to think that golfers get annoyed when some of their adulating fans take happy snaps while they're hitting their tee shot. Like, the world will end if they don't make that shot. Someone should blast out AC/DC just as Tiger's about to swing. I'd like to see that. Bring 'em down to earth a bit.

I haven't read Woman's Day for years... no longer the family and recipe mag they once were so it would seem. Gossip and celebrity boredom - why do people buy this sutff? It is inane titilation.

The days of chilvary and respect for privacy are truly no longer ideals of a modern society.

Oh well...one lesson learned for Lara as divine_msn stated, stay away from morons and married men. And if they are morons and married run like the blazes.

Obviously there was public interest in publishing the picture or we would not be still talking about it.
Maybe Lara and Brendan had a private interest in its publication. The old adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity may be in operation.

Official score:
Match abandoned due to the shower that would not go away.

At the end of the day! if she had remained true to her partner, none of this would have happened! And Brendan Fevola (moron that he is!) should learn to have more respect for his fellow man, and keep his hands off other men's partners. They probably deserved each other! Don't do the crime! if you can't do the time!