Christine Keeler Sources Christine Keeler Christine Margaret Keeler (22 February 1942 – 4 December 2017) was an English model and topless showgirl. Her meeting at a dance-club with society osteopath Stephen Ward drew her into fashionable circles. At the height of the Cold War, she became sexually involved with a married government minister, John Profumo, as well as with a Soviet diplomat. A shooting incident between two of her other lovers caused the press to investigate her, revealing that her affairs could be threatening national security. In the House of Commons, Profumo denied any improper conduct but later admitted that he had
Profumo affair persuade Keeler not to publish, the compensation she demanded was so large that Profumo's lawyers considered charges of extortion. Ward informed the "Pictorial" that Keeler's story was largely false, and that he and others would sue if it was printed, whereupon the paper withdrew its offer, although Keeler kept the £200. Keeler then gave details of her affair with Profumo to a police officer, who did not pass on this information to MI5 or the legal authorities. By this time, many of Profumo's political colleagues had heard rumours of his entanglement, and of the existence of a potentially incriminating letter.