La Toya Woods, T&T's representative at this year's Miss Universe competition, says she was not bare-breasted during a photo shoot. Woods was responding to an Access Hollywood television report on Tuesday which said she opted to go topless for the photo session with famous fashion photographer Fadil Berisha. In a note posted on her Facebook page yesterday, she said: "I was wearing what we would normally see at Trinidad and Tobago Carnival... pasties and body-paint art."
She said the picture that appeared on Access Hollywood was blurred and that led to the "mass misconception" that she was bare-breasted. "I was extremely comfortable and this was all held within the confines of the Miss Universe Organisation and sanctioned by them and their staff," Woods said. She assured her supporters in T&T that the photo shoot was tastefully done. She added: "Just wait until you see the official photos." The picture on Access Hollywood showed a frontal view of Woods with her eyes closed and with body paint across her chest and right arm. Her chest area remained blurred.
In the interview Monday with Access Hollywood, Woods said she felt liberated by the photoshoot. "You know that saying, 'bad publicity is good publicity'? It's going to be good," she told the entertainment news programme. The report said Miss USA, Rima Fakih, posed without her top, but with her back to the camera, while Miss Japan, Maiko Itai, used her arm to shield her "nudity". The report added other contestants chose to wear bikinis and body paint. Meanwhile, franchise holder of the Miss T&T Universe, Ian Andrew Lee, said Wood's decision has catapulted her chances of being placed in the top ten. He said: "She was asked and she took the chance and it has given her airtime. "What you saw is a pixelated photo on Access Hollywood to create a sensation."