Vadim Ghirda / AP Photo
Given Syrian first lady Asma al-Assad’s alleged shopaholic tendencies as revealed in the Assad email cache, it’s not too surprising that she appeared in Vogue. A 3,200-word article about Syria's first lady appeared in the March 2011 issue, but has since disappeared from the web in light of the country's brutal crackdown. In an interview with NPR last week, author Joan Juliet Buck said she was disturbed by Asma’s description of Syria’s ancient culture as its “hardware” and that it was “horrifying” to have been near the family. She also suggested that the children in the photos were probably not the Assads’ kids.
An earlier headline on this item erroneously stated that Vogue paid Asma Assad $25,000 for the photo shoot. A public-relations firm made the payment.