Another dull staff meeting at Naomi Campbell's...
On the eve of a planned meeting with a revered Nobel Peace Prize honoree, the supermodel, twice before accused of striking employees with telephones, was arrested and charged Thursday with the alleged attack of her housekeeper.
Campbell, 35, was taken into custody at 11:30 a.m. (ET), and booked on second-degree assault, New York City Police spokesman Lieutenant Gene White said.
The unidentified housekeeper, a 41-year-old woman, was treated at Lenox Hill Hospital for lacerations to the head, White said.
At 8:30 a.m., according to police, the woman was struck in the back of the head "by an object" at Campbell's residence. The woman left the home, and went to the hospital for treatment. The hospital alerted police to the purported assault.
When asked if the offending "object" was a telephone, White said he didn't know. An Associated Press report cited police as saying a telephone had been used in the alleged attack.
Campbell, wearing sunglasses, boots, pants and a smock, did not resist arrest, White said. "She's a tiny little thing," he said. "She's not going to give two NYPD detectives any trouble."
Per Campbell's camp, it is the globetrotting model who was the victimized party.
"We believe this is a case of retaliation, because Naomi had fired her housekeeper earlier this morning," a statement from Campbell's publicist said. "We are confident the courts will see it the same way."
Campbell was said to be leaving Friday for South Africa in order to meet with Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela.
In 2000, Campbell pleaded guilty to hitting a personal assistant, Georgina Galani, over the head with a telephone. Three years later, she was sued by an administrative assistant, Simone Craig, who claimed Campbell threw her around, threw a telephone at her, and held her captive.
In a 2004 TV interview, Campbell admitted to having once been addicted to a "speedy drug" that she confirmed was "like cocaine."