Model in Britain's Sex-and-spy Profumo Scandal Dies at 75

Tuesday, 05 December 2017 04:38 PM EST ET

LONDON (AP) — Christine Keeler, the central figure in the sex-and-espionage Profumo scandal that rocked Cold War Britain, has died at 75.

Her son, Seymour Platt, posted on Facebook that Keeler died Monday at a hospital near Farnborough in southern England.

Born in 1942, Keeler was a model and nightclub dancer in 1963 when she had an affair with British War Secretary John Profumo.

When it emerged that Keeler had also slept with a Soviet naval attache, the collision of sex, wealth and national security issues caused a sensation and helped topple the Conservative government.

A naked photo of Keeler straddling the back of a chair is among the most famous U.K. images of the 1960s. She spent the rest of her life trying to escape her unwanted notoriety.

A previous version of this story incorrectly reported Keeler was born in 1943.

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Christine Keeler, the central figure in the sex-and-espionage Profumo scandal that rocked Cold War Britain, has died at 75.Her son, Seymour Platt, posted on Facebook that Keeler died Monday at a hospital near Farnborough in southern England.Born in 1942, Keeler was a model...
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2017-38-05
Tuesday, 05 December 2017 04:38 PM
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