Models ‘raped, groomed and sold by agents’ in fashion’s ‘darkest secret’ | World News

Model Carre Sutton was just 17 years old when she says she was repeatedly raped by one of the most powerful men in the industry.

Gerald Marie was married to Linda Evangelista, the famous supermodel, but when his wife was out of town, Sutton says the French agent sexually assaulted her “sometimes several times a week” for several weeks in 1986.

“He basically forced me and raped me,” Sutton says in a tearful interview for a new documentary.

“I remember being so devastated and terrified.”

Sutton, now 53 and rising to fame under the name Carre Otis, tells Sky News he would be “happy to be face-to-face” in court with Marie, who vehemently denies all allegations of sexual abuse. against him by several women.

Carre Otis in 1991. Photo: John Barrett/Shutterstock

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Carre Sutton, photographed in 1991, rose to fame under the name Carre Otis. Photo: John Barrett/Shutterstock

There is no suggestion that Evangelista, who divorced Marie in 1993, knew of the alleged abuse.

She issued a statement in 2020 praising the “courage and strength” of her former partner’s accusers, saying, “Listening to them now, and based on my own experiences, I believe they are telling the truth.”

Sutton is one of at least 11 women who have reportedly given testimony to a Paris prosecutor alleging they were sexually assaulted by Marie, the former European director of the Elite modeling agency.

Gerald Marie and Linda Evangelista in 1991

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Gerald Marie and Linda Evangelista in 1991

However, France’s statute of limitations means that allegations of sexual abuse must be reported within 20 years, or 30 years in the case of minors.

Sutton believes there have been other alleged victims of Marie over the past two decades and wants them to come forward.

“I don’t think the perpetrators just flip a switch,” he tells Sky News.

“The reason I applied is that I have daughters. I don’t want them to have to normalize what I normalized for so long.

“It’s still a completely unregulated industry that works primarily with minors and young adults.

“That it is the only industry that is not regulated is outrageous.”

Carre Sutton (Carrie Otis) has recounted the sexual abuse she allegedly suffered.  Photo: Sky UK

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Carre Sutton says she would be “happy to go toe-to-toe” with Gerald Marie in court. Photo: Sky UK

The modeling industry is ‘fully complicit’ in the abuse

Sutton and three other women share details of the sexual abuse they allegedly faced while working as models in a new documentary called Scouting For Girls: Fashion’s Darkest Secret.

Sutton, who was once married to actor Mickey Rourke, says people within the industry were “totally complicit” in model abuse, particularly in Paris.

Mickey Rouke and Carre Otis photographed in 2001: Photo: Bei/Shutterstock

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Mickey Rouke and Carre Otis photographed in 2001: Photo: Bei/Shutterstock

She says she was sent to casting jobs at the homes of photographers who were “known perpetrators” where she was told to strip naked to show them her body.

“This was totally normal,” she says.

“They often left late, late, late at night.

“It was really the vulnerable, and the ones who weren’t making money, who were the ones who were targeted.”

‘Prepared and sold by our agents’

Jill Dodd says Marie also raped her after a night out in Paris in 1980 when she was a 20-year-old model.

She went on to have a relationship with Adnan Khashoggi, the late Saudi arms dealer who was once said to be the richest man in the world.

Jill Dodd has spoken out about the sexual abuse she allegedly suffered.  Photo: Sky UK

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Jill Dodd alleges that she was raped by Gerald Marie. Photo: Sky UK

She says she later discovered that Khashoggi had paid Marie’s modeling agency, Paris Planning, up to $50,000 to introduce her to him.

Dodd tells Sky News: “We were just young and our agents took advantage of us, fixed us up and sold us.

“I know for myself, I beat myself up about it for years… ‘How could I be so stupid? How could I let this happen?’

“Actually, I didn’t stand a chance against these powerful men who were 20 years older than me, plotting against me.”

Adnan Khashoggi.  Photo: AP

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Adnan Khashoggi allegedly paid a modeling agency to be introduced to Ms. Dodd. Photo: AP

‘A perpetrator in the palm of our hands’

Another important figure in the modeling world facing allegations of sexual abuse in the documentary is French agent Jean-Luc Brunel, a partner in Jeffrey Epstein.

Brunel, like Epstein before him, was found dead in prison in February of this year having committed suicide.

He had been arrested in December 2020 as part of an investigation into allegations of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment.

Undated photo issued by the US Department of Justice of Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein, which was shown in court during Maxwell's sex trafficking trial in the Southern District of New York.  The British socialite is accused of preying on vulnerable girls and luring them into massage parlors for Epstein to molest between 1994 and 2004. Air date: Wednesday December 8, 2021.

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Jeffrey Epstein (left) photographed with Jean-Luc Brunel (right)

Marianne Shine says Brunel raped her while she was working as a model in Paris in the 1980s, telling Sky News learning of his death was “infuriating”.

“Here we actually had a perpetrator in the palm of our hands,” she says.

“There were so many times I was ready to go to Paris to testify and then they put it off and they put it off.”

Shine, who now works as a therapist, claims she was also sexually assaulted by the late French modeling agent Claude Haddad, who kicked her out because she “didn’t want to play the game”, and there were others who behaved inappropriately towards her.

Marianne Shine has recounted the sexual abuse she allegedly suffered.  Photo: Sky UK

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Marianne Shine alleges that she was raped by Jean-Luc Brunel. Photo: Sky UK

She says: “I remember once doing a test shoot with a photographer and he said ‘we have to sleep together, otherwise you won’t get your photos’.

“Things like this happen all the time.

“I went to my agent and complained about it and they said ‘ah baby let’s go’. Like it’s no big deal.”

‘Master hairdressers and master manipulators’

Shine believes there is a common theme about the men responsible for the kind of abuse she and other models suffered.

She says: “I have this theory that some of the men are very small, or there is something small about them inside, that they feel like their only power is to be abusive, intimidating or threatening in some way.

“When it comes to the modeling industry, they manipulate us by hanging these dreams and potential modeling jobs in front of us and we believe them.

“As long as we accept it, we’ll be fine; if we speak against it, we’re finished.”

The documentary features the Look Of The Year modeling contest.  Photo: Sky UK

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The documentary features the Look Of The Year modeling contest. Photo: Sky UK

She adds: “They were master groomers and master manipulators. They were our authority figures.

“They had all the strings in the purse. They had everything.”

The documentary features interviews with a fourth woman, Shawna Lee, who was a 15-year-old Canadian student when she entered the Look of the Year modeling contest in 1992.

Shawna Lee has opened up about the sexual abuse she allegedly suffered.  Photo: Sky UK

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Shawna Lee has opened up about the sexual abuse she allegedly suffered. Photo: Sky UK

In the weeks leading up to the competition, which Donald Trump had judged the year before, Elite sent Lee to Paris, where she says Gerald Marie raped her.

She says that Marie found out that she had confided in a fellow model and reprimanded her, suggesting her career would be in jeopardy and telling her, “What else are you going to do? Go home and make burgers?”

‘Most models don’t have a voice’

Sutton filed a lawsuit in New York against Marie, and she says she is willing to take the case to trial.

“I’m in this for justice,” he tells Sky News.

“I am in this to protect the rights of workers, I am in this for equality, I am in this to heal what happened to me and so many other survivors who were totally innocent.

“I’m in this to see changes in the industry and I’m in this to address statute of limitation reform.

“This has not been a walk in the park. This has been one of the most challenging two years of my life.”

Carré Otis.  Photo: AP

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Carre Sutton has filed a lawsuit against Gerald Marie. Photo: AP

Sutton, who has two teenage daughters, still has concerns about the safety of the industry and says she wouldn’t allow her children to become models.

“I have (daughters) who are 13 and 15 and that’s not going to happen,” she tells Sky News.

Dodd believes that famous models are “much less vulnerable” to potential abuse, saying, “Usually, the big stars didn’t get as much abuse as unknown girls who didn’t have any money and no one knew who they were.”

“It was more secret.

“(Famous models) have a voice. I didn’t have a voice and most models don’t have a voice.”

In a statement in the documentary, a lawyer for Gerald Marie said he “strongly opposes” the “false accusations against him.”

“He remains calm and refuses to participate in the false and dishonest media controversy that has been fomented more than 30 years later,” added the lawyer.

Before his death, Brunel denied having committed any crimes during his work in the industry and said that he never abused any woman.

Haddad, who died in 2009, previously said he had “never forced himself” on any woman he “had been with.”

Scouting For Girls: Fashion's Darkest Secret is available to view starting June 24.  Photo: Sky UK

Scouting For Girls: Fashion’s Darkest Secret will be released on Sky Documentaries and the NOW streaming service on Friday, June 24.

Source: news.sky.com