View source for Gabriella Brum

{{Short description|German-British model and beauty queen}}
{{Expand German|topic=bio|date=April 2011|Gabriella Brum}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox pageant titleholder
| photo = 
| title = Miss Berlin 1980 <br> [[Miss World Germany]] 1980 <br> [[Miss World 1980]]
| name = Gabriella Brum
| nationalcompetition = [[Miss World 1980]] (winner)
| birth_place = Berlin, Germany
| birth_name = 
| birth_date  = {{Birth date and age|1962|03|22}}
| eye_color = 
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}}

'''Gabriella Brum''' (born March 22, 1962) is a German-British former model and beauty queen who won the 1980 [[Miss World]] and resigned 18 hours later, initially claiming her boyfriend disapproved.<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rqErAAAAIBAJ&dq=&pg=5188%2C2713766|title=Venezuelan Student Chosen Miss World|date=13 November 1981|newspaper=[[The Telegraph (Nashua)|The Telegraph]]|access-date=2 October 2010|agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> She stated that this was because of the pressure from the news media, though there were also allegations that she had posed [[nude]] in a magazine.<ref name="Washington Post">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1980/11/15/miss-world-quits/c1152b96-abc2-41fb-8f40-068ff9d6aec9/|title= Miss World Quits|date= 15 November 1980|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=5 February 2019}}</ref> The first runner-up in the pageant, [[Kimberley Santos]] from [[Guam]], then assumed the title.

==Biography==
Brum's mother, Angelika Roure, had met soldier, Edward Brum from London in 1961, but separated from him after a few years. The daughter, Gabriella Brum attended the Lessing High School in Berlin from 1976 to 1980, but left school in favor of a desired film career.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.zeit.de/1980/29/deutschlands-traurige-elfen/komplettansicht|title=Deutschlands traurige Elfen|date=21 November 2012|work=Die Zeit|access-date=19 November 2017|language=de-DE|issn=0044-2070}}</ref> She worked under various pseudonyms and met acting director, cameraman and producer Wolfgang Benno Bellenbaum (1928-1984), with whom she went to Los Angeles where she worked as a model.

===Miss Germany (1980)===
On 26 June 1980, Brum was crowned [[Miss Germany]] at the [[Internationales Congress Centrum Berlin|International Congress Center]] (ICC) in Berlin. A Time article from July 1980 shows that her election to Miss Germany met with criticism. So it was complained that Brum no longer lived in Germany as the main residence.

===Miss World (1980)===
On 13 November 1980, Brum won the [[Miss World]] pageant in London, making her the second German to win the title, after [[Petra Schürmann]]. The runner-up was [[Kimberley Santos]] from [[Guam]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CM6ZWjB6zUcC&pg=PT42|title=Sexually, I'm more of a Switzerland: Personal Ads from the London Review of Books|last=Rose|first=David|date=5 November 2010|publisher=Pan Macmillan|isbn=9780330538015|language=en}}</ref> The following day, Brum resigned on the grounds that her boyfriend disagreed with her new obligations and she "wanted to be with Benno instead of flying through the world under a strict contract for a year". Later, it was revealed she had been forced to resign because of allegations that there were nude photos of her.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yuddy.com/celebrity/gabriella-brum/bio |title=Gabriella Brum Biography {{!}} Gabriella Brum Model {{!}} Gabriella Brum News {{!}} Gabriella Brum Pictures |date=5 March 2010 |access-date=19 November 2017 |url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305140118/http://www.yuddy.com/celebrity/gabriella-brum/bio |archive-date=5 March 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Miss Germany : die deutsche Schönheitskönigin|author=Didczuneit, Veit|date=1998|publisher=S & L MedienContor|others=Külow, Dirk.|isbn=3931962946|location=Hamburg|oclc=50151861}}</ref> In a 2008 interview with ''[[Der Spiegel]]'', photographer Wolfgang Heilemann said he had taken the photos of Brum naked in bed having a pillow fight with her boyfriend, as part of a Miss World cover story for [[Paris Match]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/ookdatnog/1.2124902|title=Foto's waren te schandalig voor een Miss World |work=deredactie.be |access-date=19 November 2017 |language=nl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/rockfotograf-a-946876.html#featuredEntry|title=Rockfotograf: "Für Led Zeppelin habe ich die Mädels klargemacht" |date=17 April 2008 |work=Spiegel Online |access-date=19 November 2017}}</ref>

===Living in the United States===
In the early years, Brum was a successful model in the [[United States]]. She appeared in [[Playboy]] 5/1981.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19801113&id=FQAhAAAAIBAJ&pg=3071,2374430&hl=en|title=The Day - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com|access-date=19 November 2017}}</ref>

In 1981, she married Wolfgang Benno Bellenbaum; they soon separated. Her husband shot himself at the age of 55 in his apartment in [[Encino, Los Angeles|Encino]], a district of Los Angeles, and his body was identified by Brum. A farewell letter was found.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19840615&id=x09PAAAAIBAJ&pg=5939,7752705|title=Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com|access-date=19 November 2017}}</ref>

An article on the January 2012 United States Online News (USSPost) indicated that she was still based in Los Angeles at the time.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://usspost.com/gabriella-brum-still-lives-in-los-angeles-60429/|title=Gabriella Brum Still Lives In Los Angeles|work=United States Online News|access-date=19 November 2017}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Miss Germany]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Miss World titleholders}}
{{Miss World 1980 delegates}}
{{Miss Germany winners in the Grand Slam pageants}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brum, Gabriella}}
[[Category:1962 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Miss World winners]]
[[Category:Miss World 1980 delegates]]
[[Category:Models from London]]
[[Category:German beauty pageant winners]]
[[Category:German people of English descent]]
[[Category:Emigrants from West Germany to the United States]]