-In the glamorous world
of fashion,
supermodels in the '90s
seemed to have it all.
-The more that I saw them
in the magazines,
the more I felt the powerful
pull of wanting to be like them.
-But young girls, lured by
the glitz and glamour,
discover a seedy underbelly.
-I blacked out; I don't remember
anything after that.
-I definitely remember hearing
whispers of things
that were not cool.
-Where powerful predators
hunt with impunity.
-You are being watched
all the time.
-He was the hot shot
of the modeling world, you know,
and I was a nobody.
- What happens if you say no?
- You don't work.
-People only knew
the tip of the iceberg.
-It's kind of like the wolves
running the chicken house.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
-For decades, models have
influenced fashion and culture,
but in the '90s,
they become so celebrated
that their names are bigger than
the designers they work for.
In January of 1990,
Vogue magazine
puts Naomi Campbell,
Christy Turlington,
Linda Evangelista,
Cindy Crawford
and Tatjana Patitz
Petites on the cover,
inspiring George Michael
to cast them in his
chart-topping music video
"Freedom."
-And it's exactly at that moment
that the '90s supermodel
phenomenon is born.
Fashion shows went from being
little events,
with, you know,
two editors from Vogue,
two editors from
Harper's Bazaar,
maybe there was
one television camera.
Suddenly there were
a hundred TV cameras
in what were still
little tiny rooms.
You know, you... you sat there,
from my privileged
front row perch,
going, "What the...
is going on?!"
My name is Michael Gross
and I'm a journalist
and an author of books
about rich people,
real estate and fashion.
A supermodel is a model
whose name is known by people
who are not
in the fashion world...
That if a jock drinking beer
at the University of Indiana
has a poster of that girl
on his wall,
she's a supermodel
because he doesn't know
what a dolman sleeve is.
He, you know, he just knows,
"Oh, look, that's a hot girl."
-I had the pleasure of working
with almost all of
the '90s supermodels,
so I lived
with Christy Turlington
and worked with Cindy and Naomi,
and I worked with
all of those women.
They were coworkers.
My name is Monika Schnarre
and I am a model from the '90s
as well as an actor
and entrepreneur.
I look on that time fondly.
-It was an awesome time to be
in the modeling business.
My name is Marie P. Anderson
and I was a former agent
inside of Elite Chicago.
We were making money,
I was scouting amazing models,
we were managing
their careers worldwide.
-All of the top models,
they kind of defined
this glamorous, successful world
of not just being a model,
but like a supermodel,
like a superhero.
The supermodels or the top
models would be the ones
that would be
in a more powerful position
to demand better treatment,
lower commissions, better jobs.
But they're so rare, right?
Like, that's not the typical
experience of most models.
I'm Ashley Mears.
I am a sociology professor
at Boston University.
I used to be a model as well
with Elite.
-Aspiring models
begin lining up,
hoping to mirror the success of
the newly crowned supermodels,
but the '90 stars of the runway
obscures some dark realities
about modeling exposed
just years before.
-How many teenage models who
start out have you slept with?
-Uh...
What you mean by teenage?
-In 1988, "60 Minutes" accuses
some top agents
of sleeping
with their young models,
but the agents shift the blame
back onto the girls.
-When French girls start to
play with her body,
she knows that
she can have problem,
she can have, start to have
problem with men.
-In this hand, they have
your career,
and in his hand
they have what they want,
and your career can go up
if they get what they want.
If they don't get it,
your career goes down.
-But with a handful of models
now reaching superstar status,
agents become
even more powerful.
In the early '90s, two agencies
rule the modeling world:
Elite model management in Paris,
started by John Casablancas
in 1972;
and Ford Models in New York,
founded by Eileen Ford
and her husband in 1946.
The two agencies approach
the business very differently.
-Eileen Ford was considered
more conservative,
more traditional,
a little more tame.
She wasn't the party animal.
And here comes
this literal Casanova,
John Casablancas...
Handsome, young, well dressed,
coming in with money,
creating a splash.
-If you thought about
what a Ford model was,
it was a demure blonde
who didn't speak,
wearing a twin set and pearls.
You get to John Casablancas
and it's Patti Hansen
on all fours
in a pair of Calvin Klein jeans
with her butt up in the air.
John also understood
that these girls were stars.
-On the cover of People
magazine.
Look at this right here,
the sexiest...
The sexiest couple alive.
-Supermodel Naomi Campbell stars
with Michael Jackson
in his latest video.
-John Casablancas brought
the entertainment business
into the modeling business.
-With an ocean between Ford
in America and Elite in Europe,
the companies dominate
their regions,
managing the most
successful models in the world.
-Both Eileen Ford
and her husband, Jerry,
have been successfully
convincing advertisers
to the tune of
$30 million a year
that Ford model is the perfect
person to sell their products.
-Then Casablancas in Paris
decides to invade America.
-John Casablancas was ambitious,
and he lied to Eileen Ford,
told her he wasn't
going to open in New York,
and then he not only opened
in New York,
but he stole staff and models
from Eileen Ford.
-Competition grows between
the two agencies,
each fighting to sign
the next "it girl."
-Looking for new models
is happening every year.
It's incredible, the fantastic
new team of girls that's coming.
-In his battle
to transform Elite
into a dominating
worldwide agency,
John Casablancas is joined
by Gerald Marie,
the president of Elite in Paris.
-Gerald Marie was like,
you know,
the... the really important
shortstop on the team
that nobody talked about,
who figures he can make a buck
and also date
lots of fashion models.
-Which he does.
He even marries
Linda Evangelista,
one of the most
successful models in the world.
-Elite model management
during the '90s
was seriously one of the most
powerful brands in the world.
John Casablancas,
Gerald Marie...
They yielded probably
the most powerful positions
that an agent could hold
in the industry.
-The making of a supermodel.
-Together, Casablancas and Marie
create a competition for models
already within the agency called
"Look of the Year."
-The Elite
"Look of the Year" contest
evolved in the early '90s.
It was very exciting.
There was a lot of press.
It was very glamorous.
-During the day, the contestants
walked the runway,
but by night they are expected
to stroll into dinners
and parties
hosted by influential men.
-The judging is taking place
all the time,
and that's true.
You are being watched
all the time.
-John made it exciting,
and he made sure that everybody
knew that his objective
was to create huge models
out of anybody
that were going to be
part of the competition.
-I'm Lisa Shropshire and I'm 15!
- And what position did you come?
- I came first!
-Ford launches
its own competition
designed to raise the profiles
of its currently signed models:
Ford's "supermodel of the World"
launches the careers of girls
as young as 14.
-It was a day
that changed my life.
-Monika just turned 14
when she's selected
by Eileen Ford
to represent Canada.
-There's a reason why this lady
is smiling...
she just won a quarter
of a million dollar
modeling contract
from Ford agency.
-And wins the grand prize
of a Vogue cover sh**t.
-I won three months
after I walked into the agency
and six months later
I was on the cover of Vogue.
It was that fast.
I know.
I was going to go with Elite,
but my mom was most comfortable
with Ford
because my mom
wanted me to be with a woman.
-Monika finds success
right away,
and her story fuels the dreams
of other young girls
that it can happen to them
just as quickly.
-The more that I saw all of
the top models in the magazines,
the more I liked them,
and, like,
really felt, you know,
like the kind of powerful pull
of wanting to be like them.
-Do you dream of being a model?
Want to walk
the high fashion runways?
-Before she signs with Elite,
tall, thin 15-year-old
Ashley Mears
applies to Model Search America,
a contest not organized
by Elite or Ford,
but still claiming to be able
to help regular girls
catch their big break.
-Model Search America can help
you make them come true.
-We went, like,
on a school night
and you go for the first...
The first screening.
Basically, if you showed up,
they told you,
yes, you have what it takes.
-Events like
Model Search America
are largely
moneymaking opportunities,
leveraging the popularity
of supermodels.
Still, the big agencies have
their own reasons to attend.
-A lot of agents are very
willing to come to these events
because the agents
want to see one another.
So it's a networking event
for the agents.
And then the... you know,
what bankrolls it all
are kids like me
and their parents.
-Fifteen year old Ashley
is approached by a scout
with Elite model management.
-I told them, like,
how excited I was
about all of the models
that worked at Elite.
I was really enamored
with the idea that,
like, "It's happening,"
like, "this...
This... i-it's all coming
together for me," right?
-Elite and Ford have the power
to change a young girl's life.
They say with great power
comes great responsibility,
but not always.
-I definitely remember hearing
whispers of things
that were not cool.
-As rumors of this
uncool behavior
begin circulating
in the modeling world,
some very familiar names
get mentioned.
-I knew about John Casablancas,
Gerald Marie.
I knew about the big names.
But suddenly I was hearing about
people like John-Luc Brunel.
-As president of Karin Models
in Paris,
Jean-Luc Brunel has a reputation
for launching models' careers
and for starting trouble.
-There were rumors about
Jean-Luc
and... and John Casablancas,
but I wasn't alone
with them ever.
People knew that, you know,
they were playboys.
-While today the term "playboy"
is loaded and problematic,
in the '90s, many wealthy men
were only too willing
to celebrate
both their financial success
and their sexual conquests.
-Where the trouble started
was agencies in Europe
that were run by guys who had
more than money on their mind.
-I'm Thysia Huisman,
I'm an author,
I wrote a book called Close-Up,
and it's a memoir about
what happened to me as a model.
-At 18, Thysia is scouted
in Brussels.
Modest, she is surprised, then
excited about the possibilities
when Jean-Luc Brunel
notices her.
-He was the king of the modeling
industry at that time.
He met me, he was like,
"Oh, you should come to Paris,
and I see a lot
of potential in you,
and you can stay
also in my apartment
and I will make sure
nothing bad happens to you."
-But Thysia says
very bad things did happen.
-Just as grunge music finds
its way onto the runway,
'90s supermodels find their way
into music videos.
Helena Christensen gets steamy
with Chris Isaak
in the "Wicked Game" video.
George Michael gets "Too Funky"
with Linda Evangelista and Tyra.
And while Naomi Campbell
is captivating
and Michael Jackson's
"In the Closet,"
RuPaul pulls it all together
with the beloved anthem
"Supermodel."
-♪ Sashay, shantay ♪
-All of this attention
is music to the ears
of young modeling hopefuls,
especially those looking
for a better life.
-I had a kind of
lonely childhood.
I was raised by my father
and my mother died
when I was really young.
So I thought that being a model,
you know,
being in front of a camera
would give me kind of attention
and being in the limelight,
and that that really sounded
appealing to me.
-But when Dutch model
Thysia Huisman
wins a local modeling contest,
it's not life changing
in the way she imagined.
-They said to me, "Oh, well,
congratulations, you won,
but you're still really young,
but that's good, you know,
because you have to lose
the puppy fat."
So, um, yeah,
I lost a lot of weight
and it left me
with an eating disorder.
-There is a lot of agents
that are messed up in the head
and they're in control
of these young girls.
You've got agents
grabbing girls' butts
and saying "you're fat";
agents telling girls
to eat cotton ba*ls?!
It's kind of like the wolves
really running
the chicken house.
-Even though...
Or perhaps because...
Thysia drops to
a dangerously low weight,
she catches the eye of top
modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
-You know, he promised me
like a pot of gold
and... and he said that he
could, like,
make me a supermodel.
He also said to me, like,
"Oh, you should come
to Paris right away."
I told my agent in Belgium that
I was, like, kind of concerned
that... if this was the right
thing to do, and she said,
"No, you know, this is really
only for the special girls
that he sees a lot of
potential in that...
And only they can stay
in his apartment."
Paris is... is the place
to be as a model.
So I was like, "Okay, if she
says so, then I'll go there."
-When Thysia arrives in Paris,
she quickly learns
that her success may be tied
to more
than her modeling skills.
-There was this party that
started in Brunel's place.
This guy started talking to me,
and I remember
that he said to me, like,
"Oh, well, you should be
really honored that Brunel,
he sees a lot
of potential in you.
And it's important to...
If you want to succeed
as a model in Paris,
that you are willing to do
anything, you know,
like you are really like to...
To take the extra steps."
-Ashley is also about
to experience
the modeling world in Europe.
-I had what is probably the more
typical experience
of somebody...
somebody's encounter
with the modeling industry
in the '90s, it was, you know,
consuming the dream from afar
in this little
commercial market of Atlanta.
-After years of modeling
in shopping mall fashion shows,
when Ashley's agent at Elite
asked her to go to Milan
for six weeks of auditions,
she's excited
what her future holds.
-Coming from the suburbs,
I was like ready to experience
all of this stuff
that I fantasized
was going to be super cool
and glamorous.
-Thysia and Ashley show up
ready to do the hard work
necessary to land jobs
in the fashion capitals
of Paris and Milan.
-I remember that I was
with my backpack
and my portfolio under my arm,
and I was really like,
"Wow," you know, "this is
everything I ever dreamed of."
-I've had fantasies
that I would make a lot of money
or I could be, you know,
seen by the right client.
You know, what if Prada saw me
and I could be
the face of Prada?
-Booking jobs in Europe can make
or break a modeling career.
But for many young models,
being a teenager far from home
and trying to begin
a grown-up career
can be both overwhelming
and disorienting.
-To look 30
and to be, you know, 14,
'cause my height
and when I'm made up,
I was always treated
like a woman.
But emotionally
and intellectually,
my emotional intelligence
wasn't there yet.
-I showed up in very hot Milan.
Some, you know, nice young man
met me at the airport,
introduced himself as intended,
got me a cappuccino and drove me
around for my castings.
And then when dropping me home,
was like,
"Oh, we're going for a dinner
tonight with the agents
and all of the other girls.
And then we're going
to go to a party."
And I was like, "Amazing!
This is like...
This guy is so cool," right?
And then I understood
after a couple of weeks
that it was like
that every night in Milan
and that he didn't work
for the agency,
he actually worked
for a nightclub.
He's one of the promoters
that the clubs hire
to bring the girls.
-Ashley's experience in Milan
is not unique.
-You are in these
incredible clubs,
and there you see also people
I only knew from movies
and... and, like, pop stars.
So of course, I felt starstruck
and also,
you don't have to pay anything
because everything is paid for.
-Of course, there's no
such thing as a free anything,
there's always
an expectation of reciprocity.
So the models are paying back
with their presence
in these places
to beautify them,
to make them look fashionable
so that the cafe or the club
can also capitalize
on the beauty.
-Some women were very...
Or young women
were very, um, you know,
focused on the work.
And then there were others that,
um, just had the best time.
I was in awe of these girls
just partying all night
and showing up the next day,
and they could work.
-But isolated and alone,
the nightlife can become
a lifeline.
-Think about the population
of models coming through cities
like New York or Milan...
It's also highly transient,
it's young people,
it's people who don't have
their networks
already established
in these places.
I wasn't connected
to anybody else in Milan,
and here was this cool guy
who was offering me access to,
you know, cool places
that I wouldn't otherwise know
even where to look for,
couldn't afford to eat in them,
even if I knew where they were.
And then he was introducing me
to everybody.
So it was like this instant
network that I could connect to.
-On one hand, it was like
everything I ever wanted,
you know, to become a model,
but was also really lonely
because you weren't...
You were always on your own,
you know?
You don't have, like, colleagues
you work in an office with.
-And while the nightlife
helps ease Thysia's loneliness,
when the sun goes down,
things also become
more dangerous.
-Brunel, he had two sides,
because during the day
he was really charismatic
and really charming,
but he had also another side.
And that was especially
in the evenings
and the night...
He became sexual harassing.
His behavior, that was not okay,
you know,
and I didn't feel safe.
And... but on the other hand,
I thought, yeah,
I can handle this guy, you know?
-Please meet the exquisite
Naomi Campbell!
Naomi!
- By the start of the '90s,
the girls of the decade
are popping up everywhere,
even on "Oprah," and they're
endorsing countless products.
Cindy Crawford stars in this
Super Bowl commercial for Pepsi.
♪♪
Kate Moss becomes the face
of Calvin Klein...
And Christy Turlington
gets paid six figures
for 12 days of work
on a Maybelline campaign.
-Is it true that...
That supermodels get paid
that enormous amount of money,
£10,000 a day?
-I never discuss money, ever.
-One supermodel will:
Linda Evangelista
famously let it slip
in an interview
that she doesn't get out of bed
for less than $10,000.
-And suddenly the models
were like,
"Wait, 10,000?
Hmm. How about 25,000?
Maybe 50,000?"
So then it just took
on a life of its own.
-The era of a few high paid
supermodels means agents
like Jean-Luc Brunel
are bombarded
with many beautiful young girls
looking for that
same kind of success.
But that bright light
focused on the few
continues to blind the many
to the warnings about men like
Jean-Luc delivered
in the not-too-distant past.
- He gave you a drink?
- Yes.
- You drank it and then what?
- I blacked out.
I don't remember
anything after that.
-The next thing
you remember was?
-Was being in this man's bed.
-Who was he?
-Do I have to say the name?
It was Jean-Luc.
- You were r*ped.
- Yes, I do know that.
-The 1988 Diane Sawyer exposé
on "60 Minutes"
accused top modeling agent
Jean-Luc Brunel
of sexual as*ault,
but no legal action is pursued,
attention recedes, and Brunel
continues to flourish.
-I remember when that came out,
it was... it was a big deal.
It's... it's all anyone
talked about.
And I understood now why my mom
wouldn't let me go stay
at Jean-Luc's house in Paris,
and why my mom didn't want me
to be with John Casablancas
and she wanted me
to be with a woman.
-Despite the accusations,
the fashion industry chooses
to treat them like last season's
collection and moves on.
-Everybody in the industry knew,
all the agents, they knew,
you know, and they couldn't...
they didn't care
because they made money.
So they looked the other way.
-Unfazed, Jean-Luc Brunel
learned to adapt
and continues business as usual.
-Eventually, Jean-Luc Brunel
leaves Karin's.
And what does he do?
He starts a whole 'nother group
of modeling agencies.
-When you put very powerful men
into a room
with literally hundreds
of teenage girls
that are desperate,
I mean desperate,
to become successful
and be on the cover of Vogue,
and they don't have
any parental supervision,
{\an1}knowing that those men can make
the difference in their careers,
the girls will just
kind of morph
to whatever is happening
in that environment at the time,
thinking, "This is
the way it happens.
This is what you have to do
to become successful."
-During her week-long stay
at Jean-Luc Brunel's in '91,
Thysia is starting
to recognize a pattern.
-Every night
there were like dinners;
as a guest, you had to attend,
and the seating
was always like this...
Was a man and then a model,
man, model, man, model,
man, model, you know?
So you were like...
And I...
I realized already back then
that, you know,
you were entourage.
You know, you were like
the arm candy.
-While researching a book
about the fashion world,
writer Michael Gross
is hearing rumors
about this type
of predatory behavior
where unknown models
are exploited.
He also notices supermodels
are not at these parties...
And he understands why.
-They look at someone
and they see money,
huge, vast sums of money.
Do not mess with that girl,
mess with that one
who's never going to be anybody.
And that's the way
that they work.
I took a second trip to Europe
to do follow-up interviews,
and I fell into this nest
of vipers
and all of these creatures
and gremlins
and insects are pouring out.
And I realized that people
were beginning to understand
that I might stir some sh*t up.
-In the early '90s,
stars of the fashion world
start to blend
with other celebrities.
Supermodels are now known for
both the clothes on their backs
and the men on their arms.
But before a model can make it
to the A-list,
she must make it
through the hands of powerful
and sometimes
predatory gatekeepers,
something fashion writer
Michael Gross understood.
-There were patterns of behavior
that had been acceptable.
-And he wants to expose it,
but Gross will soon discover
his plan to shine a light
on this shadowy part
of the modeling industry
will be met with a dangerous
kind of darkness.
-I was actually threatened
by Johnny Casablancas,
who made a lunch date with me.
He looked at me, he said,
"Hello," you know,
and then he said,
"If you harm Elite,
Elite will harm you."
And he stood up
and he walked out.
Wow! You know?
It was clear to me
this was an amazing story
and people only knew
the tip of the iceberg.
And when John Casablancas
delivered the threat,
I got a little paranoid
at a certain point.
I took all my interview tapes
and I put them into a airline
carry on bag
and I hid it under the bed
of a friend of ours in Paris.
I'm not writing about the Mafia,
I'm writing about
the fashion world,
for God's sakes.
You know, Jean-Luc Brunel
had a horrible habit
of using the merchandise
for reasons
that were not above board.
The same thing happens
with every one of these guys.
Look at Gerald Marie.
It just so happened
that in his off hours,
he was treating models
like garbage.
-By the mid-'90s, Gerald Marie
is at the center of rumors
about bad behavior with models.
While on an agency retreat
in Ibiza,
American agent Marie Anderson
overhears a conversation
she can't ignore.
-It was Gerald Marie,
John Casablancas,
Lisa Herzog from New York Elite,
and Trudi Tapscott
from New York Elite,
and both of these young women
were begging the men
to stop sleeping
with the young teenage girls.
And Gerald said, "We are men,
we have our needs."
And John's response was,
"Lisa, Trudi, it's not that big
of a deal,"
like, "stop being so puritanical
about your ideas of sex,
this is fine,"
and the men refused to listen.
-Disgusted by the blatant
abuses of power,
Marie Anderson quits her job
as an agent at Elite.
-I kept trying to have
this conversation,
and people were like,
"Marie, shut up.
Nobody wants to hear this crap.
Don't be a Debbie Downer.
This is part of the business.
Just accept it."
-Accepting it seems to be
the key to understanding why
nothing changed even after
the "60 Minutes" report
of abuse in the industry.
-He's got the agency,
he's got the girls,
his friends say, "Oh, Jean-Luc,
I'd like to have," you know,
"I'd like to meet some girls and
we're having a party tonight,
can you bring some girls?"
- And what happens
if you say no?
- You don't work.
-One model in particular,
who I thought was
tough as nails,
I warned her what was going
to happen and she's like,
"Marie, I'll deck the guy.
You know, that'll never happen."
A little time passes
and she calls me crying
and she said,
"Marie, Gerald Marie is a pig
and he's been hitting on me
all the time,
and he said that
if I don't sleep with him,
I'm not going to work
and I haven't been working.
I think I'm going
to sleep with him."
I'm like, "Don't do it,
please, girl, don't do it.
You'll sell your soul."
She said, "Okay, okay, okay,
thank you for talking me
off the ledge, I won't do it."
So months go by
and she comes home
and she's showing me
her portfolio full of covers.
And I'm like, "Look at you!
Look at all these
beautiful covers!
Aren't you proud of yourself?
You didn't sleep with him,
and look what you accomplished!"
And she sat there silent,
she goes,
"No, Marie,
I did start sleeping with him.
And as soon as I did,
I started booking those covers."
♪♪
-He knew!
He knew.
He knew he could control
that situation.
-But in Paris,
thinks she will be able
to control the situation.
She books two jobs,
and on her last night,
she says she accepts an offer
to celebrate her success
with Jean-Luc Brunel.
-Brunel, he was really excited
and he was saying like,
"Oh, you know, you did so well
and I'm so proud of you."
So I said, yeah,
we should celebrate.
And...
Of course, I didn't forget
about him being a creep,
but on the other hand,
I was also like,
okay, you know,
this is, you know,
I'm moving in the right
direction, you know,
for my career.
I remember that he gave me
a drink and he said,
"I made this drink,
especially for you."
It was kind of mixed drink.
And, um...
Yeah, he... he said,
"Cheers to your career,"
and... and I remember
that I drank it,
and 20 minutes later
I started...
to become dizzy.
I told him,
"I don't feel so well,
so I want to lie down."
And he said, "Yeah, but you can
lie down in my room."
I remember that he...
He pushed me on his bed
and I remember that then
I blacked out.
And the next moment
that I realized
that he was on top of me,
and I remember
that I was fighting him,
but I... I remember also that
I didn't have the power,
you know, to really fight him.
He was, like, in between my legs
and he was starting
to penetrate me.
And after that,
also blackout again,
and, uh, yeah.
The next morning I remember
that I woke up feeling
like a train rode over me,
you know?
♪♪
Um...
I got my memory back, you know,
it was kind of fragmented,
and then I realized
what happened,
you know, that he r*ped me.
-♪ I'm too sexy for Milan,
too sexy for Milan ♪
♪ New York and Japan ♪
-It's big, it's colorful,
it's theatrical,
it's haute couture...
Original high fashion,
custom-made for
the very few who can afford it.
-In the seemingly glamorous
world of fashion,
supermodels are to young girls
what haute couture is to
mass-market fashion:
aspirational and out of reach.
-♪ I'm a model,
you know what I mean ♪
♪ And I do my little turn
on the catwalk ♪
-The handful of women at the top
sell the dream
to the majority of models
who end up
owning a very different
experience.
-♪ ...on the catwalk ♪
♪♪
-After a week of auditions and
staying at Brunel's apartment,
that he drugged and r*ped her.
-All I wanted to do
was escape that apartment.
-According to Thysia,
she returns home in shock
and keeps quiet about
what happened to her.
-Paris was his city, you know,
it was his country,
he was the king, he was the
hot shot of the modeling world,
you know, and I was a nobody.
-During your time in Paris,
Thysia books two big contracts
and her career
is about to take off,
but instead she steps away.
-I quit modeling because it was
full of, you know,
creeps that couldn't get
their hands off you.
And... but I never told
the whole story
because I was too
ashamed for it.
-Speaking from experience,
I can tell you that the predator
relies on you being mute.
The predator relies on you
keeping your mouth shut,
keeping things status quo,
and knowing your place.
-Once again is Jean-Luc Brunel
is not charged,
but in 1995, Michael Gross
releases his book that,
like the "60 Minutes" episode,
exposes the ugly truth
of the modeling world,
again accusing Brunel
and others of abuse.
-Johnny Casablancas greets the
book by threatening to sue me,
thereby selling, you know,
probably tens of thousands
of copies.
-Michael Gross has ruffled a few
feathers in the fashion world
with his new book,
"Model: The Ugly Business of
Beautiful Women."
-I don't think
the book is judgmental.
I think that the book
is reported
and people who are reading it
are drawing judgments.
The modeling industry
basically cleaved in half.
There were the people
who felt wronged,
who were generally people
who I wrote about
and told tales about.
And there were people
who were gleeful
because the bad guys had finally
taken it in the throat.
-Gross's book kicks up
a lot of dust,
but when it settles,
the titans of the modeling world
are still standing.
-I had hoped that the industry
would change, but again,
it was just like that
"60 Minutes" episode
back in the '80s...
Nothing happened.
-As the industry largely
dismisses Gross's allegations,
supermodels begin
getting replaced
on magazine covers
with actresses.
But the marriage of film
and fashion will bring
even more morally bankrupt
power players into the mix,
including Harvey Weinstein,
who goes on to executive produce
the hit modeling reality show
"Project Runway."
- is the chance of a lifetime.
-By '96, the complexion
of the runway utterly changes.
And suddenly you had
what I called
the march of the wan blondes.
It was like someone just came in
and said anything
that can attract attention, no.
We have to put the attention
back on the clothes.
-By 1997, the fashion world
is wrapped up
in another controversy
when waif-like supermodel
Kate Moss
hopes to create
the next big aesthetic,
known as heroin chic.
-And so here starts a new trend.
And I don't think that,
when they started calling girls
like her "heroin chic,"
she knew that she had
a drug problem.
-The ultra-thin look
sells clothes,
but comes with a high price
when one of its photographers,
David Sorrenti,
dies of a heroin overdose.
-The thing that was
so interesting
about the waifs and heroin chic
was that politicians
latched on to it.
-You do not need to glamorize
addiction to sell clothes.
-And while '90s sexual
misconduct in the fashion world
is shrugged off,
heroin's tangential relationship
to modeling
is something
President Bill Clinton
feels requires his attention.
-The images projected in fashion
photos in the last few years
have made heroin addiction seem
glamorous and sexy and cool.
-But heroin will only
briefly distract from
what remains
modeling's original sin.
In 1999, two BBC reporters,
Donal Maclntyre
and Lisa Brinkworth,
go undercover to gain
video proof
of some of fashion's
biggest predators.
-I was in the company
of some of the most powerful
and I would say dangerous men
in the industry.
-In 1999, the BBC produces
a documentary
with undercover footage
of Gerald Marie behaving badly.
-I'm not quite sure
how it ended up in my hands,
but I ended up with a VHS tape
of the documentary,
and I watched it and I was like,
"Praise Jesus, finally, somebody
is talking about this stuff!"
-When the documentary airs
in the UK,
Casablancas is quick to react.
He lawyers up and sues the BBC,
claiming it was all a setup
and the episode is banned
from airing ever again.
But enough people
see the program
to keep the issue alive
in the fashion world.
Both Marie and Brunel
adamantly denied the claims
and continue to work
under the radar
until a powerful
movement emerges.
-The New York Times
reported today
Weinstein is accused of sexually
harassing female employees
and actors for decades.
-After years of using his power
to prey on women,
Harvey Weinstein is brought down
when his victims speak up
and ignite the powerful
Me Too movement
founded by Tarana Burke in 2006.
Their strength encourages
other women
to hold
their abusers accountable,
including one of America's
worst perpetrators.
-Sixty-six year old
Jeffrey Epstein
was arrested
Saturday in New Jersey
after returning from Paris
on his private jet.
-The arrest sparks
a memory of a party
hosted by the person Thysia
says r*ped her in 1991
and the man she met
who advised her
to be willing
to do anything to get ahead.
-I saw the picture of Epstein
and I recognized him directly...
That he was the guy, you know,
that I spoke to that night
in... in the Brunel's place.
-Brunel finally attracts
the attention of authorities
and in December of 2020,
they arrest him for the alleged
procurement of girls
to Jeffrey Epstein.
-In his apartment,
there were a lot of young
Eastern European models,
young girls, scouted by Brunel.
They never told me
in those words,
but you felt that they were...
That they didn't have
the possibility
to go back to their home country
without, you know, money,
without a career.
So they were kind of
stuck there.
-In Milan, these clubs,
they're so beautiful
and so seductive.
And then when you get to know
the people
who are sitting at these tables,
the models,
you see that they're
poorly paid,
some of them might be students,
some of them don't have money
for the taxi to get home.
What looks really glamorous,
in reality
is a form of exploitative work.
-Looking sexy maybe is like
part of your job as a model,
but sex is never
part of the job.
-With Brunel behind bars,
all eyes turned to Gerard Marie,
and in 2021,
Marie is revisited by journalist
Donal Maclntyre,
this time
for "60 Minutes Australia."
-Ah, Mr. Marie!
Mr. Marie, call the police.
Do you realize
the French prosecutors
have got 14 women charging you,
making allegations for as*ault
and sexual as*ault?
-With an investigation underway
and several of
Gerard Marie's victims
working with the police,
those in the industry
hope for a different future.
♪♪
-I don't think that
you'll ever see a return
to the Wild West atmosphere
that lasted through
the supermodel era.
We're past that now.
-The Me Too movement really
changed everything
as far as how we view
sexual harassment,
because now these stories
will come out
if you mess
with a model or an actor.
Now we have a platform.
-Despite the lack of legal
consequences for some,
there is hope that exposure will
protect the next generation.
-Mothers, before they send their
daughters to New York, Paris,
London and Milan without
a chaperone,
can read "Model," which is still
in print 25 years later;
can watch TV,
can watch vice documentaries,
can hear the truth,
and then make their minds up...
"Are we going to throw our
daughter in the deep end
of this fetid pool or not?"
You know, at least the
information is out there now.
-The moment that I decided
to... to come forward
and to tell my story
was the moment
that I got my power back,
you know,
and it felt empowering
and also, uh...
Yeah, good to get
the control back.
♪♪
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