Elle Macpherson raises eyebrows with now-deleted comment about 'Aborigine' ancestry

Aussie supermodel Elle Macpherson has raised eyebrows with comments about her ancestry that have reportedly since been deleted.

In a video for Vogue's 'Beauty Secrets' series, the Sports Illustrated model, 57, stated she had "Aborigine" eyes, according to Sydney Morning Herald.

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"My eyes are almost black, that's the Aborigine in me," the mother-of-two reportedly said in the clip.

"Being seven generations Australian, they don't reflect light the same way blue eyes do."

According to the publication, the video has since been edited to remove the remarks after the reporter asked Macpherson to clarify whether she was claiming to be Indigenous, or regretted using the term "Aborigine" — phrasing considered offensive because it has racist connotations from Australia's colonial past.

Elle's younger sister, Mimi, told Sydney Morning Herald: "We are not Indigenous nor have we traced our ancestry."

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This is not the first time Elle has sparked controversy. Last year, she was seen promoting an anti-vaccination campaign led by her boyfriend and disgraced doctor, Andrew Wakefield.

Elle reportedly appeared on stage in front of an audience in the US to promote the anti-vax propaganda video, saying the coronavirus pandemic is a "divine time" to discuss the dangerous idea.

"You made this film during COVID, and it's interesting because it's such beautiful, sacred timing when you watch the film, because it's so pertinent and so relevant," Elle said to Wakefield in footage obtained by The Daily Mail. "And for it to come in this divine time where vaccination and mandatory vaccination is on everybody's lips."

Elle, famously nicknamed "The Body", grew up in the suburb of Killara on Sydney's north shore.

Her parents, entrepreneur and sound engineer Peter Gow and nurse Frances Gow, split when she was 10 years old. Elle took on her stepfather's surname, Macpherson, when her mother remarried.