Supermodel Paulina Porizkova details alleged harassment in fashion world
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Paulina Porizkova is revealing some dark secrets from the world of high fashion, saying her rise to stardom was paved with uncomfortable encounters.
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit legend, now 60, detailed the normalization of sexual harassment she allegedly faced as a teenager, saying the very people tasked with managing her career often sent her into compromising situations.
“I started modeling at 15 in Paris during summer vacation from school,” Porizkova shared in a video clip posted to Instagram. “And every day, I was sent between four and ten visits. You go there, and they see – all over the city – for myself, without any knowledge of the language or the city. »
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The Sports Illustrated legend says she was sent on visits to Paris alone at age 15, where men in bathrobes greeted her in hotel rooms. (Darren Gerrish/WireImage for Estée Lauder)
The Czechoslovakia-born model explained that while some meetings were professional, many others were far from it.
“Sometimes the people I saw were well-dressed and in offices, and sometimes they were middle-aged men in messy apartments who just wanted to take a few casual photos of me — you know, preferably topless,” she said. “I can no longer count the number of men in open bathrobes who welcomed me into their hotel rooms or apartments where I was sent by an agency or clients.”
Porizkova, who made history in 1984 as the first Central European woman to land a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover, noted that progress isn’t limited to messy apartments.
Paulina Porizkova attends the launch of the 2019 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in Miami, Florida. (John Parra/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated)
She remembers that well-dressed older men frequently invited her to parties, to yachts and tropical villas.
For years, the model believed these meetings were just part of the paycheck.
“I took it all for granted,” Porizkova admitted. “That my job was to get undressed, put my clothes back on, and then learn how to creatively fend off horny men so as not to offend them and lose my job.”
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The 60-year-old model didn’t realize her alleged experiences qualified as workplace harassment until she saw a segment on a 1990s talk show. (Raymond Hall/Image GC)
It wasn’t until the 1990s, while watching a segment on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show about sexual harassment in the workplace, that she realized her own experiences qualified as harassment.
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“I looked at my girlfriend and said, ‘Is this sexual harassment? I thought it was compliments,'” she recalls.
Reflecting on his vulnerability as a child in a high-stakes industry, the author of “No Filter: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful” highlighted how children can be easily manipulated by those in power.
Porizkova published her first non-fiction book, “No Filter: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful” in 2022. (Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images)
“When you take a child and you put them in any situation, that child adapts. If an adult tells you that this is the way things are supposed to be, well, who are you, the child, to protest? And that makes the child the easiest target,” she said. “And if you don’t know exactly how old a child has to be to be a child, well, you either don’t have one, or you don’t have the humanity to remember being one.”
The model captioned her social media post with the hashtags “#Epstein,” “#EpsteinFiles” and “#Justice.”
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Porizkova’s illustrious career includes being the face of Estée Lauder and appearing as a judge on “America’s Next Top Model” alongside Tyra Banks. During her 41-year career, she appeared in 11 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issues.
She also embarked on a successful writing career, publishing her first novel, “A Model Summer,” in 2007 and her 2022 nonfiction book, “No Filter.”
Fox News Digital has contacted Porizkova for comment.
