Of Course! South African Model in famous Branson Kitesurfing Pic

It’s funny how some stories get rehashed over and over…especially when there’s a particularly hot model in the story’s photo…and she’s not wearing too many clothes!

Back in 2009, a spectacular photo of a model clinging to the back of Richard Branson while he kite-surfed around his Caribbean island made world headlines. And then in October 2013, ‘Business Insider’ did an interview with Branson about the story behind the photo. Perhaps it didn’t garner enough attention at the time, because they’ve re-published the story in the past week.

And the most interesting thing, in our opinion, is that the model in the photo is (of course) South African! Her name is Denni Parkinson and she was born in Cape Town in 1982.

In his the-story-behind-the-photo interview on YouTube, Branson describes Denni as a “delightful young South African girl”.

It turns out that the photograph was not an intentional publicity stunt by the Virgin-founder (who is renowned for taking publicity stunts to world-breaking levels in order to promote his business ventures).

Denni happened to be on Branson’s island of Necker with her French boyfriend Stephane Gautronneau. It was Stephane’s idea to place his girlfriend around the back of Branson. At the time Branson, who was then 58, said “I only wish I had eyes in the back of my head”.

The eye-catching photo sparked many a headline like “Richard Branson – you won’t get very fast with that model around your Necker…”

Sir Branson’s wife and two children watch the shoot from the shore. In the video, Branson reveals how his wife Joan reacted…watch here.