Georgina Rizk

{{Infobox pageant titleholder

| name = Georgina Rizk

| image =Georgina Rizk (1971).jpg

| caption = Rizk in 1971

| title = {{ubl|Miss Lebanon 1970|Miss Universe 1971}}

| competitions = {{ubl|[Miss Lebanon 1970 (Winner)|Miss World 1970 (Unplaced)|Miss Universe 1971 (Winner)}}

| birth_place = Beirut, Lebanon

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|1|3|df=yes}}

| eye_color = Green{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KZkrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TvcFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6760,3320973&dq=georgina+rizk&hl=en|title=New Miss Universe Will Travel 38 Countries on Personal Tour|author=Kurt Lassen|date=22 April 1972|work=The Telegraph |via= Google News Archive Search|access-date=4 March 2015}}

| hair_color = Auburn{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

| height = 5 ft 6.5 inches{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Muharram Fouad|1975|1975|reason=divorced}}
{{marriage|Ali Hassan Salameh|1978|1979|reason=died}}
{{marriage|Walid Toufic|1990}}

}}

| children = 3

| homepage =

}}

Georgina Rizk ({{langx|ar|جورجينا رزق|Jūrjīnā Rizq}}) (born 3 January 1953) is a Lebanese model, socialite and beauty queen. She represented Lebanon and won Miss Universe 1971, making her the first Lebanese and Middle Eastern/West Asian woman to win that title. Prior to this, she was crowned Miss Lebanon 1970 and represented Lebanon at the Miss World competition but was unplaced.

She is currently{{When|date=August 2024}} a beauty pageant judge for the Miss Lebanon contest and is married to Lebanese singer and actor Walid Toufic.

Biography

Rizk was born in Beirut in a Christian household to a Lebanese father and Hungarian mother.{{cite web|url=http://www.rewity.com/vb/t101414.html |title=بعد 30 سنة تتكرر ظاهرة جمال جورجينا رزق في هيفاء وهبي ( صور) من مجلة نادين - شبكة روايتي الثقافية |publisher=Rewity.com |access-date=2013-10-03|trans-title=After 30 years, the phenomenon of the beauty of Georgina Rizk is repeated in Haifa Wehbe (photos) from Nadine magazine - My Cultural Network.}}

She was crowned Miss Lebanon in 1970 and represented Lebanon at the Miss World pageant but failed to place. Months later, on 24 July 1971, she represented Lebanon at the Miss Universe pageant and was crowned Miss Universe 1971 in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. She was the first woman from the Middle East, the fourth woman from Asia overall and the first from West Asia to win the title. In the pageant, she made a memorable fashion statement by wearing a very revealing top and hotpants. {{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

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 fear of possible retaliation for the massacre of the Puerto Ricans, Rizk was not allowed to attend the Miss Universe pageant to crown her successor in Puerto Rico.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Personal life

Prior to winning the pageant and at the time of her crowning, she dated a French university chemistry student named Philippe Duc.{{cite web|url=http://www.oocities.org/televisioncity/9699/70sdisha.html |title=The Dish On The Universe - 1970's - Part One |publisher=Oocities.org |access-date=2013-10-03}} She stated at 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".{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-vErAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HAYGAAAAIBAJ&pg=5128,2729947&dq=georgina+rizk&hl=en|title=Miss Universe Discusses Sex|work=Kentucky New Era |via= Google News Archive Search|date=Jul 24, 1971|access-date=4 March 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jJ5YAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hvgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5146,2576033&dq=georgina+rizk&hl=en|title=Intelligence Held Key to Success|work=Spokane Daily Chronicle|via=Google News Archive Search|date=July 26, 1971|access-date=4 March 2015}} Rizk would later claim that her comments were misquoted: what she really meant was that she approved of pre-marital sex but only with someone one loved or planned to marry.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QqglAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9vMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2985,3881708&dq=georgina+rizk+married&hl=en|title=The Miami News |via= Google News Archive Search|work=google.com|access-date=4 March 2015}}{{dead link|date=November 2020}}

Rizk's first husband was Muharram Fouad, an Egyptian singer and actor whom she married to for a short period in 1975.{{Cite web |date=2021-06-25 |title=قصة زيجات محرم فؤاد من تحية كاريوكا وجورجينا رزق إلى المذيعة منى هلال |url=https://www.youm7.com/story/2021/6/25/قصة-زيجات-محرم-فؤاد-من-تحية-كاريوكا-وجورجينا-رزق-إلى/5367445 |access-date=2022-07-04 |website=اليوم السابع |language=ar}} Rizk later married 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, identified as a key participant in the 1972 Munich massacre, was killed as part of Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre. Rizk was six months pregnant when Salameh was assassinated.{{Cite web |last=الوفد |title=محرم فؤاد .. تفاصيل 6 زيجات وصورة نادرة لآخرهم |url=https://alwafd.news/كان-زمان/3977429-محرم-فؤاد-تفاصيل-6-زيجات-وصورة-نادرة-لآخرهم |access-date=2022-07-04 |website=الوفد|date=13 October 2021 }}

She married Lebanese singer Walid Toufic in 1990. She has two children with him.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

She has been a judge for the Miss Lebanon pageants.{{cite web|url=http://www.hibamusic.com/Liban/walid-tawfik/walid-tawfik-166.htm |title=Walid Tawfik - وليد توفيق |publisher=Hibamusic.com |access-date=2013-10-03}}{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19790201&id=3pQuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=a6EFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7100,5559702|title=How Mossad got the Red Prince|work=The Montreal Gazette |via= Google News Archive Search|date=Feb 1, 1979|access-date=4 March 2015|page=9}}

Her sister was jailed in Syria for murdering her husband.{{cite book|last=Dabbagh|first=Heba|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S9Ipj_0kGHEC&pg=PA191|title=Just Five Minutes: Nine Years in the Prisons of Syria|date=February 2007|publisher=Bayan Khatib|isbn=978-0-9781726-0-2|page=191|access-date=May 29, 2014}}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Rizk has a Canadian maternal nephew, actor Ty Wood.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Role in the Arab-Israeli conflict and Lebanese Civil War

Even though Rizk was a model who became a popular figure in Lebanon for her achievements, she never had any interest or aspirations to be involved in politics. However, Rizk was often involuntarily drawn into the regional conflict. This was largely due to the current political events at the time, with her country Lebanon caught up in the Arab-Israeli conflict and strategically positioned near the heart of the conflict. {{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

At Miss Universe 1971, in Miami, Florida, she was reportedly on friendly terms with the Miss Israel contestant Etty Orgad, whom she "met and enjoyed knowing" according to Rizk. She responded to criticism by stating that "this is a beauty contest, not politics" and that the conflict "is the government's worry, not mine."{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19710724&id=bH4sAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Ac0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7288,4174062|title=Miss Universe's Fortune Came True|work=Herald-Journal|via=Google News Archive Search|date=July 24, 1971|access-date=4 March 2015}}

In 1972, at the Lod Airport Massacre in Israel, 17 Puerto Rican tourists, among others, were murdered by Palestine militant terrorists under the banner of the PLO. As a result, Rizk was forbidden to attend the Miss Universe 1972 in Puerto Rico to crown her successor due to fear of a revenge attack. She stated that she was afraid to attend the beauty pageant for fear of what might happen.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

In the Lebanese Civil War in the mid-1970s, she was drawn into the conflict when she began a romantic relationship with Palestinian PLO militant and intelligence official Ali Hassan Salameh, who was nicknamed "The Red Prince" due to his lavish lifestyle, and playboy persona. (Salameh was allegedly still married to his first wife Um Hassan when their affair began). The date on which the couple was married is widely disputed. Yasser Arafat was said to disapprove of their pre-marital relationship because it violated the traditional conservative Arab status quo, and he remained hostile to Rizk due to that.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wg5eAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nl8NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1340,3198252&dq=yasser+arafat+georgina+rizk&hl=en|title=Beauty Queen Visits Injured Guerilla|work=Observer-Reporter|via=Google News Archive Search|date=Jan 24, 1979|access-date=4 March 2015}}

After her marriage, in keeping with Salameh's traditional Muslim background and conservative Palestinian culture, Rizk quit her modeling and film careers, staying mostly at home.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tdFIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cYIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2881,2699805&dq=yasser+arafat+georgina+rizk&hl=en|title=US Cease-fire Quiets Artillery Duel on Israel-Lebanon Border|work=Youngstown Vindicator|via=Google News Archive Search|date=Jan 24, 1979|access-date=4 March 2015}} The couple were said to only be known to socialize with fellow wealthy Lebanese and Palestinians.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ffZfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3FYMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1398,1709184&dq=yasser+arafat+georgina+rizk&hl=en|title=Hassan: Playboy guerilla|author=Richard Pyle|work=Daily Union|via=Google News Archive Search|date=Jan 24, 1979|access-date=4 March 2015}}

References

External links

[http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/197202/georgina.htm Saudi Aramco World article] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610002126/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/197202/georgina.htm |date=10 June 2011 }}

{{S-bef|before={{flagu|Puerto Rico}} Marisol Malaret}}

{{s-ttl|title=Miss Universe

|years=1971}}

{{S-aft|after={{flagu|Australia}} Kerry Anne Wells}}

{{s-ttl|title=Miss Lebanon

|years=1971}}

{{Big Four Pageants titleholders

|Year = 1971

|Miss World = {{flagu|Brazil}} Lúcia Petterle

|Miss Universe = {{flagu|Lebanon}} Georgina Rizk

|Miss International = {{flagu|New Zealand}} Jane Hansen

}}