Axelle Despiegelaere shot to fame during the World Cup after photographs of her attending the football games went viral.
The teenager subsequently signed a modelling contract with cosmetics empire L'Oreal when she returned home to Belgium.
However, a photograph of the model surfaced online in which she is seen posing beside a dead animal with a hunting rifle after a recent hunting trip.
The photograph invoked a lot of backlash and criticism of the the 17-year-old model and she has since been dropped from her contract with the cosmetics company.
@Loreal @LOrealParisUSA what do you think of this post by your new model Axelle Despiegelaere? pic.twitter.com/Xn4lZrckLs
— Aly Weisman (@AlyWeisman) July 10, 2014
Despiegelaere allegedly posted the picture on her Facebook page with the caption: 'Hunting is not a matter of life or death. It is much more than that. This was about one year ago. Ready to hunt some Americans today haha' - on the day Belgium were set to face USA in the World Cup.
A spokesperson from L'Oreal told The Independent "L’Oréal Professionnel Belgium collaborated with her on an ad hoc basis to produce a video for social media use in Belgium. The contract has now been completed."
Despiegelaere has not yet commented on the controversy, but her Facebook Page which had over 20,000 likes has been deleted.
