A stunning Playboy model and reality TV star has claimed that football legend Diego Maradona sponsored her first nude photo session.

Ex Big Brother contestant Antonela Avellaneda, 38, stunned her social media followers when she revealed that the star funded her first racy photos.

Maradona died of a heart attack aged 60, at his home in Dique Luja, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, in 2020.

Despite being an inspirational player, the star was also a notorious cheat.

When he scored a goal that put England out of the 1986 World Cup with his hand, he dubbed it the ‘Hand of God’.

Antonela revealed: “It was my first work with nudity. At the time, as all this cell phone technology didn’t exist, the photos took place in a studio.

“He paid for the photos for me.

“We did it every week, always with me wearing a different costume. It was even before the ‘Concurso Felinas’ and the Big Brother Brasil [reality shows].”

Antonela who was born in Argentina, but is a naturalised Brasilian citizen made headlines when she posed for Playboy Portugal in 2019.

She had previously been on the cover of men’s lifestyle and entertainment magazine two times more, in 2003 and 2004 respectively.

The 38-year-old model was the second non-Brasilian contestant to participate in the 4th edition of Big Brother Brasil in 2004.

She was reportedly kicked-out by public vote after spending 29 days in the house.