The sad and ugly business of being a model
telegraph.co.uksystemic exploitation and sexual abuse of models by the very people charged with keeping them safe. Four model agents in particular are named: John Casablancas, Gerald Marie, Jean Luc Brunel and Claude Haddad, all of whom worked for or were linked to Elite, the international model agency that prospered in the 1990s.
This was the era of the supermodel, and Elite had some of fashion’s biggest names on its books, including Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Eva Herzigova and Linda Evangelista, the Canadian model oft misquoted as saying she wouldn’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.That Evangelista, 57, was married to a person claimed to be one of the industry’s worst offenders is an indictment of the arrogant, chilling way they abused their prey right under the noses of those who trusted them most.
Evangelista met Gerald Marie, Elite’s president from 1984 - 2000, when she was 22, married him in 1987 and divorced him six years later.
One of the most poignant stories in the documentary is told by the model Carré Otis, 53, who recounts being sent to Paris aged 17, to be “looked after” by Marie at his Paris apartment.
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