Peaches Geldof axed as 'face and body' of Miss Ultimo lingerie after naked pictures scandal



Peaches Geldof was yesterday dropped from her most lucrative modelling contract following sordid allegations about her private life.



Bosses for underwear firm Miss Ultimo arranged an emergency meeting yesterday morning to discuss whether the 21-year-old could continue as the face of the brand after it was claimed she had a heroin-fuelled, one-night stand last November.



A series of lewd photographs appeared on the internet showing Miss Geldof cavorting topless and wearing a large plaster covering part of her thigh.



Peaches Geldof has been axed as the face and body of Miss Ultimo after naked pictures of her emerged

Her team denied claims she had taken drugs and tried to persuade Miss Ultimo not to terminate her £100,000-a-year contract.



But the lingerie company said she was setting a bad example to their young female audience and immediately ordered pictures of Miss Geldof to be removed from their window displays, website and department stores where their brand is sold.

A spokesman for the company said yesterday: 'We have been in meetings all morning with regards to the stories that have surfaced over the weekend about Peaches and unfortunately we have no option but to terminate her contract.



Controversial: Peaches Geldof in one of the shots published in the U.S; we have cropped it for decency

'Miss Ultimo is a brand geared towards a young female audience and as a company we have a social responsibility to ensure we are promoting only positive role models that young women can aspire to.



'We are in the process of removing Peaches from the website and we are working with Debenhams to remove her visuals form all Miss Ultimo shops and window displays throughout the UK.'



Michelle Mone, the creator of the Miss Ultimo brand, said: 'We’ve given this a lot of thought, but there’s a point where a business must stick to its principles and as a brand that targets young women, we feel it is impossible for Peaches to continue to work with us as the face of Miss Ultimo lingerie.'



The news comes just ten months after Miss Geldof was signed up to the company and weeks before the launch of her latest campaign, which had already been shot.



Friends of Miss Geldof said she was 'devastated'.



'It was Peaches' most lucrative contract by a long way,' one said. 'Until this point she had a really good relationship with the company, so she wasn't expecting this.



Glazed: Peaches with Ben Mills in one of the pictures posted on the internet

'She had already shot her new campaign which she was really excited about and now it's been scrapped and they are erasing any trace of her.'



Last week, 23-year-old American artist Ben Mills claimed he and Miss Geldof had injected heroin together during a short-lived affair in Los Angeles last November.



Parting company: Ultimo owner Michelle Mone with Peaches last month at the launch of a lingerie collection at Debenhams in Glasgow

He alleged the heroin had been brought to the U.S. by Miss Geldof as well as posting naked images of her online.



Miss Geldof, who is the middle daughter of Live Aid organiser and former Boomtown Rats frontman Bob and late TV presenter Paula Yates, has repeatedly been linked with drugs in recent years.

In July 2008, she was treated by emergency paramedics after an overdose and was believed to have stopped breathing for several minutes until she was revived. However, she refused to go to hospital for fear her father would find out.



That incident came after she was seen offering a drug pusher cash in May 2008.



She was questioned under caution but never charged.

Then in December that year she left a 'shopping list' of drugs including Viagra and sleeping pills in a London pub.



Peaches was just 11 when Miss Yates died of a heroin overdose in 2000. Representatives for Miss Geldof, who is thought to be in LA, did not return calls to the Mail yesterday.