This is Naomi Campbell’s cover for the March issue of GQ UK. She gives an interview to the magazine, plus she conducts an interview… with Russia’s former president, Vladimir Putin. It is epic. First, some select quotes from Naomi’s interview. She tells the magazine: “I don’t read the papers. I sell papers.” She also talks about her appearance at Charles Taylor’s war crimes tribunal, saying: “They tried to affect my work. They said the fashion industry shouldn’t use me. But what had I done wrong?” Um, Naomi, you accepted blood diamonds and then you lied about it, repeatedly, to many people. Anyway, the soft-ball Putin interview is a thing of beauty. I guess Naomi feels qualified to interview Putin because she’s had a married Russian bone inside of her for a few years. The full Putin piece is here – it’s amazing how Naomi and Vladimir speak to each other. It’s just… I don’t have words.

Naomi Campbell: You’re in pretty good physical shape. How do you manage to keep yourself so fit?
Vladimir Putin: Probably the same way you do.

Actually, I don’t work out as much as I should, but I do believe that it’s a healthy mind as well as a healthy body that keeps me fit, sound and calm.
Exactly. You just answered your own question.

What’s your fitness regime?
I go to the gym, I swim daily and from time to time I meet with friends and do extra-curricular stuff. I had a good work-out just the day before yesterday.

In the summer you were photographed on a Harley-Davidson at a bikers’ festival in Ukraine. How were you received by the bikers, the Night Wolves?
VP: Well, these are really cool guys, really tough guys. One of them was a really courageous person who travelled a few thousand kilometres on a two-wheeler bike. He’s a handicapped guy with only one leg – he lost it somewhere in Yugoslavia during the war. I’m not the tough guy, those guys are.

NC: You obviously make a great impression on women. How do you feel about the students who posed for you in the calendar? [Female students at Moscow State University in Russia produced rival calendars for Putin’s 58th birthday. First, a group of journalism students in lingerie posed for a calendar with suggestive captions, such as: “You put out forest fires, but I’m still burning.” Then another group hit back, posing in black, with their mouths taped shut.]
VP: I like the girls a lot, they’re beautiful. I like the calendar but it’s not the most important thing. As for the other one, well, in almost any country, probably in Russia in particular, it’s fashionable to criticise people in power. If you come out in support of someone like me, you’re going to be accused of trying to ingratiate yourself. The girls in the erotic calendar were courageous and they were not scared. As student journalists, they couldn’t fail to understand what might have been said to them after doing this. Nonetheless, they were not deterred and did the calendar anyway. So, frankly, that’s what I liked the most.

NC: You’ve been known to attend bare-knuckle fights. Ever been in one?
VP: No, it’s not my sport; since I was 14, I’ve done judo. But the bare-knuckle fight I attended was very impressive. These guys are tough. I watched the Russian, French and British teams and each and every one of these athletes deserves great credit. There are even women who do it.

NC: Big women?
VP: Not big, just strong women.

[From GQ UK]

If I wanted to read an interview equivalent of fellatio, I would still subscribe to Time Magazine. I expected more from a British men’s magazine. Of course, GQ UK seems to love Naomi, for whatever reason. They’ve had her on their cover so many times. Perhaps she’s beaten all of them into submission.

GQ UK cover courtesy of HuffPo. Additional pics by WENN.