Model sacked for her loyalty to Gaddafi family

 AN AMERICAN-ITALIAN model who had a "passionate" four-year relationship with Mutassim Gaddafi has lost one of her biggest contracts after she refused to take back comments in which she expressed sympathy for the Gaddafi family and disgust over the situation in Libya.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Vanessa Hessler was sacked by a German phone company after she told the Italian magazine Diva e Donna: "The Gaddafi family is not as they are being depicted, they are normal people."

The 23-year-old went on to finger Italy, France and the UK for financing the rebels, adding that the Libyan people "don't know what they are doing".

Mutassim, 34, was Colonel Muammar's fifth son and a member of his inner circle. He was killed the same day as his father, 20 October, during the final stage of the Battle of Sirte.

"I cannot believe that it's true. It's very sad," said Hessler, who had heard nothing from Mutassim since the Libyan uprising occurred in February. She said she was worried about the fate of the survivors from the Gaddafi clan, including Muammar’s only daughter, Aisha.

Although Hessler’s agent tried to defend her by saying that she was simply in a state of shock following the news of her former lover's death, the model apparently refused to distance herself from the comments.

As a result, Telefonica Germany's subsidiary Alice said yesterday that her heavily-used image would be immediately removed from all promotional material, despite her having been the face of the telecommunications company for several years. "We and our clients have no comprehension for what she said," a spokesman explained. ·