Georgina Rizk
| Beauty pageant titleholder | |
| Born |
Georgina Rizk 3 January 1953 Beirut, Lebanon |
|---|---|
| Height | 5 ft 6.5 in (1.69 m) |
| Measurements | 35-24-35 in |
| Hair color | Light Brown |
| Eye color | Green |
| Title(s) |
Miss Lebanon 1970 Miss Universe 1971 |
| Major competition(s) |
Miss Lebanon 1970 (Winner) Miss World 1970 (unplaced) Miss Universe 1971 (Winner) |
| Spouse |
Ali Hassan Salameh (m. 1978; d. 1979) Walid Toufic (m. 1990) |
| Children | 3 |
Georgina Rizk (Arabic: جورجينا رزق, born 3 January 1953) is a Lebanese model, socialite and beauty queen who is best known as being Lebanon's first and so far only Miss Universe and also the first women to be crowned as Miss Universe from the Arab world. She is currently a main beauty pageant judge for the Miss Lebanon contest and is the current wife of Lebanese singer and actor Walid Toufic.
Rizk was born in Beirut in a Christian household, to a Lebanese father and Hungarian mother. Her mother was married to Rossi, an Italian prior to marrying Rizk's father. That union produced a daughter (Rizk's half-sister), fashion designer Felicina Rossi. She was crowned in the Miss Universe pageant in 1971 in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. She was the first woman from the Middle East and the fourth woman from Asia to win the title. In the pageant, she made a memorable fashion statement by wearing a very revealing top and hotpants. 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 the possible retaliation from the massacre, Rizk was not allowed to attend the Miss Universe Pageant to crown her successor in Puerto Rico.
Prior winning and at the time of her crowning she dated a French University Chemistry student named Philippe Duke. She stated in 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". Rizk would later claim that her comments were misquoted and what she really meant was she approved of pre-marital sex but only with someone you loved or planned to marry. She then got married to 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 had been identified as a key participant in the Munich massacre, and was killed as part of Operation Wrath of God. After couple of year, the Miss Universe got married to the renowned Lebanese singer Walid Toufic in 1990, and has two children with him. She is a judge for the Miss Lebanon competitions. She has a son Ali Salameh (b.1979) from her first marriage to PLO militant Ali Hassan Salameh, she was six months pregnant when Salameh was assassinated. Her sister was jailed in Syria for murdering her own husband. In addition to Arabic, she can speak English, French and Italian. Rizk said she learned Italian from her Italian half-sister fashion designer Felicina Rossi.
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