Leona Lewis turns down £1m to open the Harrods sale in anti-fur protest

The X Factor winner turned chart-topping recording artist Leona Lewis rejected a £1m offer from Harrods boss Mohammed Fayed to open this year's summer sale because the department store sells fur. 

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A staunch vegetarian since the age of 12, the Bleeding Love singer stuck to her principles and turned the lucrative offer down, the job going instead to 52-year-old Sex And The City star Kim Cattrall.

Lewis, who was this year voted animal rights campaign Peta's World's Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity, said:

I'm totally against animal cruelty.

I don't have clothes, shoes or bags made from any animal products.'

Harrods, which declined to comment, is the only department store in the UK that continues to sell fur, and is regularly targeted by animal cruelty campaigners.

Its sales are traditionally opened by an A-list female celebrity.

Most of those invited have jumped at the opportunity to parade around Knightsbridge in a horse and carriage before being given a private tour of the discounted goods by Mr Fayed himself.

Last summer, Hollywood actress Sarah Michelle Geller, 31, was given the honour, while singer Lily Allen, 23, opened the winter sale last December.

Other leading ladies who have cut the ribbon include Victoria Beckham, 34, Eva Longoria, 33, Christina Aguilera, 27, and Lucy Liu, 39.

Meanwhile, Lewis is reportedly in talks with Bhs boss Sir Philip Green about creating a range of nonleather bags and shoes for Topshop.

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