Missing Kurkova bellybutton due to surgery

NEW YORK, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Surgery Karolina Kurkova had as an infant was responsible for the absence of her bellybutton, a representative for the Czech model said.

The unidentified representative was responding to recent rumors regarding the Victoria Secret model's apparent lack of a noticeable bellybutton at a Miami fashion show, the New York Daily News reported Saturday.

"She had an operation when she was an infant," the representative told the newspaper. "It's a fact and just thank God she's healthy."

The rumors came about following the runway show two weeks ago as prior photographs of the leggy model showed her with a normal bellybutton.

Industry sources say such physical contradictions were likely the work of photo retouching before the photos were released to the public.

Meanwhile, the Daily News said a plastic surgeon, Dr. Matthew Schulman, has offered an expert guess as to what surgery E! entertainment's World's Sexiest Woman may have endured as an infant.

"It does look like (she may have had) an umbilical hernia as a child that was either fixed or not fixed, which can distort the belly button," the Mount Sinai Medical Center doctor said.