Bin Laden's niece to star in reality TV show
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-03-11 13:36

Osama bin Laden's niece, an aspiring singer who posed for a sexy photo shoot in a men's magazine last year, has signed up for a reality television show about her life and her as yet unfulfilled "quest for stardom."

Wafah Dufour, Osama bin Laden's niece, is seen in an undated publicity photo. Dufour, an aspiring singer who posed for a sexy photo shoot in a men's magazine last year, has signed up for a reality television show about her life and her as yet unfulfilled 'quest for stardom.' [Reuters]

Wafah Dufour Bin Ladin, whose mother was married to the al Qaeda leader's half brother, was born in California but lived in Saudi Arabia from the age of three to 10.

"I understand that when people hear my last name, they have preconceived notions, but I was born an American and I love my country," Dufour said in a statement from ReganMedia announcing the deal to develop a reality TV series.

Dufour has dropped the "Bin Ladin" -- a different spelling of the Arabic name from that used by Osama bin Laden -- and now goes by the name Wafah Dufour.

Based in New York, Dufour has been promoting herself as a musician and last December appeared in a sultry GQ photo spread, reclining on satin sheets wrapped in feathers and posing in a bubble bath wearing nothing but a necklace.

"Her story will bridge the gap that people feel exists between the cultures she has lived in," ReganMedia President Judith Regan said.

"She is also a young woman who falls in love, has her heart broken, worries about her looks, doesn't always listen to her mother, and hasn't spoken to her father in years," Regan said.

Dufour's mother Carmen bin Ladin wrote the 2004 bestseller "Inside the Kingdom: My Life in Saudi Arabia," an account of her rocky marriage to Yeslama, Osama's half-brother, who amassed a fortune in the family's construction business and started his own investment firm.

Dufour, who earned a master's degree in law from Columbia University, was in Geneva with her mother at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks. She had said in the past she has never met Osama bin Laden.

She cites U2, Depeche Mode, The Cure and The Cranberries among her musical influences.

Regan has published a string of celebrity authors including Michael Moore and porn star Jenna Jameson, and she was an executive producer on the reality show "Growing Up Gotti" about members of the family best known for its Mafia empire.

The statement did not say when the show would be aired or on what channel.