Diaz Not Ashamed Of Topless Pics

Actress Testifies In Trial Of Man Who Took Steamy Photos Of Her

(AP)  Cameron Diaz testified she wasn't ashamed of topless pictures taken early in her career by a photographer she said later threatened to sell them before the “Charlie's Angels” sequel premiered in order to portray her as a “bad angel.”

Confronted with the 1992 photos of her in fishnet stockings, leather boots and, in at least one shot, holding a chain attached to a male model's neck, Diaz said Thursday she wasn't enthusiastic about releasing the pictures, although she did believe her bare breasts looked good in them.

“At least I have that going for me,” she recalled thinking.

The talkative movie star giggled and smiled through more than three hours of Superior Court testimony in the criminal trial of the man who took the photos and 11 years later tried to sell them back to her for $3.5 million. But she became forceful and adamant when describing the signed model release form that photographer John Rutter said gave him ownership of the photos.

“I have never signed my name like that,” said Diaz, whose screen credits include “The Mask,” “There's Something About Mary,” “Being John Malkovich” and the animated “Shrek” films. “It's not my C, it's not my A, it's not my Z, it's not my D.”

Rutter, 42, is charged with attempted grand theft for the alleged blackmail scheme, forgery for the signature on the form and perjury for declaring in a separate civil case that the signature was authentic. If convicted, he could face up to six years in prison. An extortion charge has been dropped.

Diaz, wearing a brown V-neck top, gray pants and black high heels, laughed about her early modeling career, describing the May 1992 photo shoot in an abandoned warehouse as something where she went for a “big-haired kind of vixen” look in hopes of appearing in edgy European magazines. Photos from the shoot without her breasts exposed appeared in French and Greek magazines, and two shots were displayed for jurors Thursday.