BERLIN (Reuters) - Photographer Helmut Newton, famed for his portraits of beautiful naked women, said he had met far too many stupid models in his career.

Newton, 82, has courted controversy with his portrayals of sexual violence, sado-masochism and fetishism.

But the renowned photographer told Germany's Stern magazine on Wednesday that working with beautiful women had often been boring and tiresome.

"Either they are so dumb that they can only sit there silently staring straight ahead with vacant looks on their faces, or they get on my nerves because they can't stop blabbering," said Newton, an Australian who lives in Berlin.

"And then there are those who believe they have to talk about important issues," he added. "Those are the worst of all."

Newton said he had become so bored that he had nothing to add to memoirs which tell the story of his life until 1982.

"What could I have written about the last 20 years? That I met an awful lot of incredibly boring Hollywood bimbos, that I earn a bit more money now and that I only fly first class," he said. "Not much more has happened."

Newton opened an exhibition in Berlin two years ago featuring photographs of big-name models in various states of undress and in poses not normally seen on the catwalk.

Newton was born into a prominent Jewish family in Berlin but fled Nazi Germany in 1938.

Many critics, including leading feminists, have slammed aspects of his work which depict women bound and gagged or wearing leg irons. But fans call his photographs erotic masterpieces.

In the Stern interview Newton said he was disliked the word erotic. "I hate all the talk about erotic," he said. "Let's talk about sex. Then I know what is meant."

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And that's Claudia Schiffer stepping out from Morton's in L.A., just to remind you she knows too how babies come to the world.