Georgina Rizk Biography

Georgina Rizk (, born 3 January 1953) is a Lebanese model, socialite and beauty queen who is best known as being Lebanon's first and so far only Miss Universe. She is currently a main beauty pageant judge for the Miss Lebanon contest and is the current wife of Lebanese singer and actor Walid Toufic.

Biography

Rizk was born in Beirut in a Christian household, to a Lebanese father and Hungarian mother. Her mother was married to an Italian prior to marrying Rizk's father. That union produced a daughter (Rizk's half-sister), fashion designer Felicina Rossi. She was crowned in the Miss Universe pageant in 1971 in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. She was the first woman from the Middle East and the fourth woman from Asia to win the title. In the pageant, she made a memorable fashion statement by wearing a very revealing top and hotpants. The 1972 Miss Universe pageant was held in Cerromar Beach Hotel in Dorado, Puerto Rico. On 30 May 1972, a month before the pageant telecast, 17 Christian pilgrims from Puerto Rico along with other victims, were killed during an attack at the Lod Airport in Israel (now Ben Gurion International Airport). The massacre was perpetrated by three members of the Japanese Red Army on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Due to the possible retaliation from the massacre, Rizk was not allowed to attend the Miss Universe Pageant to crown her successor in Puerto Rico.

Personal life

Prior winning and at the time of her crowning she dated a French University Chemistry student named Philippe Duke. She stated in a press conference in 1971 that she approved of pre-marital sex stating "we must have lots of experience" and that "marriage is not a simple thing". Rizk would later claim that her comments were misquoted and what she really meant was she approved of pre-marital sex but only with someone you loved or planned to marry. She then got married to Ali Hassan Salameh, a Palestinian who was chief of operations for Black September and founder of Force 17. The couple spent their honeymoon in Hawaii, and then stayed at Disneyland. When Rizk got pregnant, she returned to Beirut. Salameh was killed in 1979 by the Mossad. Salameh had been identified as a key participant in the Munich massacre, and was killed as part of Operation Wrath of God. After couple of year, the Miss Universe got married to the renowned Lebanese singer Walid Toufic in 1990, and has two children with him. She is a judge for the Miss Lebanon competitions. She has a son Ali Salameh (b.1979) from her first marriage to PLO militant Ali Hassan Salameh, she was six months pregnant when Salameh was assassinated. Her sister was jailed in Syria for murdering her own husband. In addition to Arabic, she can speak English, French and Italian. Rizk said she learned Italian from her Italian half-sister fashion designer Felicina Rossi.

Role in the Arab-Israeli conflict and Lebanese civil war

Even though she was only a model that became a popular figure in her country for making history despite never having any interest or aspirations to be involved in politics, Rizk was often muddled into the regional conflict involuntarily. This was largely due to the current political events at the time and her country Lebanon being amidst the Arab-Israeli war and strategically positioned right next to the heart of the conflict. When she was competing in the Miss Universe 1971 contest based in Miami, Florida, she was reported to be on friendly terms with the Miss Israel contestant Etty Orgad which she "met and enjoyed knowing" according to Rizk. She also responded by stating "This is a beauty contest, not politics", and stated that the conflict "is the government's worry, not mine".

In 1972, following the Lod Airport Massacre, where 17 Puerto Rican tourists, among others, in Israel were murdered by Japanese militants terrorists under the banner of the PLO, Rizk was forbidden to attend the Miss Universe 1972 in Puerto Rico to crown the title winner in fear of a revenge attack. She stated that she herself was scared to go in fear of what would happen. In the dawning and height of the Lebanese civil war in the mid 1970s she again was thrown in the arena of the conflict when she began a romantic relationship with Palestinian PLO millitant and intelligence official Ali Hassan Salameh who was nicknamed the "The Red Prince" due to his lavish lifestyle and playboy persona. Allegedly Salameh was still married to his first wife Um Hassan when their affair began. The dates on which the pair married is widely disputed. Yasser Arafat was said to disapprove of their pre-marital relationship because it clearly broke traditional conservative Arab status quo and he remained hostile to Georgina Rizk due to that. Considering the main role the PLO played in allying with the Lebanese Muslims and Leftists against the Christians in Lebanon, her relationship with a PLO militant was not welcomed by her own Christian community either. During their relationship and marriage Salameh did the best he could in keeping his wife out of the public eye and PLO movement affairs. Upon her marriage keeping in line with Salameh's traditional Moslem background and conservative Palestinian culture she quit modelling and did not star in anymore films. She stayed mostly at home. The couple were said to only be known to socialise with fellow wealthy Lebanese and Palestinians. According to close friends Rizk herself had no attachment to the palestinian cause or supported the PLO but instead was drawn to and motivated to marry Ali Hassan Salameh purely out of love.