Harvey Weinstein was also abusing, assaulting & harassing models for years

Celebrities out and about during the 66th Cannes Film Festival - Day 3

Harvey Weinstein didn’t just harass, assault and abuse actresses, as it turns out. Because of course he didn’t. He also had a “thing” for abusing models. It seems more and more like Harvey Weinstein was less a “producer” and more like a professional sexual assailant who merely used the “producer” job as a cover for his real career as a sexual predator. Anyway, the whole idea that Weinstein had been preying on models over the years has been on the edge of the story this whole time. Weinstein’s Italian connection/enabler/pimp, Fabrizio Lombardo, was one of the people pipelining European actresses AND MODELS to Weinstein for abuse. Weinstein was heavily involved with his wife’s fashion line, and Weinstein developed deep contacts with Anna Wintour and Vogue, plus contacts with other designers and organizers of New York Fashion Week. It’s safe to say that his hunting ground was any and every fashion week, model-heavy fundraiser or fashion event, really.

The steady stream of models passing through Harvey Weinstein’s orbit may not have been a coincidence, according to a new report from the L.A. Times. Weinstein began developing his connections in fashion in the early 2000s. As he was securing his power in Hollywood, he got to know people in fashion who were increasingly interested in partnering with celebrities. Weinstein went on to serve as an executive producer on Project Runway, invested in the company Halston, and backed his wife, Georgina Chapman’s fashion line, Marchesa.

But in addition to using the fashion world, and magazines like Vogue, to increase the profile of the actresses he worked with, sources interviewed by the L.A. Times say that Weinstein also “used fashion as a pipeline to women. They said that models, oftentimes young and working overseas far from home, were particularly vulnerable.”

At least 10 former and current models including Cara Delevingne and Angie Everhart, have accused Weinstein of various forms of sexual misconduct. One former model Zoë Brock, told the L.A. Times she believes that men connected to Weinstein intentionally sat her next to him at a dinner party in Cannes in 1998.

“Someone put me there next to him — that was on purpose. I am pretty sure that there are a lot of people that would like to sit next to Harvey Weinstein,” Brock told the L.A. Times. “So why was it me?” Brock told the paper she had to lock herself in a hotel bathroom to get away from Weinstein during a 1998 incident in Cannes. She claims they ended up in a hotel room when a naked Weinstein demanded a massage.

Brazilian model Julianna De Paula recalled a particularly pervy incident a decade ago when she allegedly ended up at Weinstein’’s New York loft – and was forced to kiss other women in front of him, the paper said. A naked Weinstein ended up chasing her through his apartment, forcing her to use a broken glass to keep him at bay, De Paula said. “He looked at me, and he started to laugh,” she said. “I was shocked. I was completely in disbelief.”

Model Samantha Panagrosso recalled meeting Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003, when the movieman allegedly started touched her legs under the water in a hotel pool. When she objected, the portly perv simply pointed at another model nearby and boasted, she said. “’Look at her, I’m going to have her come to my room for a screen test,’” Panagrosso said, quoting Weinstein.

[From Page Six & The Cut]

How many models will come forward? If anything, it seems to me like the modeling industry would be more susceptible to a code of silence about Weinstein – actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd could use their fame to speak up, but who would believe a 17 year old model from Eastern Europe with a sparse resume? And yes, I’m sure that Weinstein found many, many enablers and collaborators within the fashion industry. Ugh. These poor women.

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34 Responses to “Harvey Weinstein was also abusing, assaulting & harassing models for years”

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  1. Nicole says:

    FFS I cannot with these stories.
    But I’m reading every single one. Least I can do here

    • frisbee says:

      And me, I’m feeling nauseous every time I see his photo but the least I can do is listen to these women tell their stories, so many people must have been shutting them down for years.

  2. EMau says:

    A while back, there was a paparazzi moment capturing Miranda Kerr meeting him for lunch, i.e on her way to meet him (behind closed doors).

    • Don't kill me I am French says:

      I remember a story about HW and Gisele Bunchen leaving a night club together maybe 20 years ago

      • Sabrine says:

        He’s very unattractive but it didn’t matter because he held the power. I was sexually harassed at the age of 19 at my first office job. Again, it was men who held the power at the company. It’s really sad and unfair that women have to put up with this garbage just so they can work and earn a paycheck.

  3. Eliza says:

    The modeling world is more corrupted than Hollywood. Actors, unlike models, don’t rely on managers/agencies for room/board. Many models don’t see their money as it goes through their agency first, then to their expenses, so maybe down the line they get some shred of income. Runways can pay models in experience and clothing; no cash. So when your room/ board and income (and for many, work visas) depend on others being happy with you, so many of these girls become targets. Weinstein is not the only abuser, they all should go down. And models should be paid directly for their work.

    • IlsaLund says:

      Wow. I didn’t realize that’s how the modeling business worked. So models have no direct income from the jobs they do? All money has to go through the modeling agency to be disbursed? That’s crazy.

      • Unicorn_Realist says:

        True story. Ex model. It can be dangerous. I got out before I got sent to Japan. How was I to communicate while out there? I didnt have money. The deductions add up. Its like you are a pack mule. Have to work back to back gigs at high prices in order to break even and or make a profit. Plus I got out after the photographer masturbated on set while showing me the set up. It was so casual for him to do it. I was mid 20’s. He was very handsome but…… no thought it was gross and unprofessional. Walked out on a 3 year contract.

    • Artemis says:

      Yup.

      Those girls are underfed, drugged up and shipped from one low-paid assignment to the other. If you can’t book a campaign, it’s a dog’s life and you better not grow hips because the next underage/underdeveloped 100 girls are already in line to take your place. And that’s the best scenario for those who don’t become supermodels or are able to toe a fine line between being famous runway models while remaining lowkey and booking steady assignments. The worst is when the agency is acting like a pimp for Hollywood celebs. When you get send to these parties and ‘meet’ actors, the underlying assignment is to ‘date’ these men which can raise their profile but it’s seedy nonetheless. And apparently there is no way they can file a sexual harassment claim because they are seen as employees not independent contractors!

      Even Naomi was said to be Vlad Doronin’s armpiece and that their relationship was based on the fact that she can maintain a luxurious lifestyle and he had a beautiful iconic model on his arm for events. He got too much into the Hollywood party scene and started treating her like garbage (hanging out with Leo D and his gaggle of young models etc). Naomi has the fame, money and connections and was still dismissed as an expensive escort basically when she and Vlad broke up.

    • PIa says:

      THIS! I mean, with Terry R., and other photographers who are so popular and in demand by major players (Vogue, Tom Ford) yet still harass models.

    • Sixer says:

      And if I am not mistaken, this was basically Bill Cosby’s MO. Get desperate-to-make-it, out-of-town, naive and vulnerable young women and funnel them to the powerful abusers. The agencies must be in on the whole thing.

    • Betsy says:

      John Casablancas had a lot to do with the way the modeling world functions, I think I remember reading.

  4. Llamas says:

    He has the most punchable face. He’s a gd psychopath and he can rot in hell. Sorry not sorry.

    • MC2 says:

      Right?! It’s like he stepped straight out of a bad movie. He is a one dimensional caricature.

    • Unicorn_Realist says:

      Read up about John Casablanca. He is a monster. Sick. Wondered why my Dad was so against me modeling. I felt like he was preventing me from realizing a dream. I had the look etc. Why not be supportive? He said he didnt want his daughter to be a prostitute. I never understood what he meant until many years later. Like Hollywood, you want to climb up the ranks, you have to play the game. What are you willing to do to move up to the next level? Can you be compromised? If yes then here is 100,000. Just keep your mouth shut. Its a systemic problem. Its in every industry. Just follow the money.

  5. Megan says:

    So Marchesa was basically a front for Weinstein to abuse models? It is so f*cking sick.

  6. Miss S says:

    I keep wondering if he will ever go to jail…. *sigh*

    • Llamas says:

      Nope! Remember, celebrities are exempt from the law. He will get to prance around freely after doing the unthinkable. 👍🏻

  7. trollontheloose says:

    it has been told that’s why he executive produced Project Runaway ..running around harassing any models.. What a pig. His place is in jail.

  8. Dorothy#1 says:

    I hope he goes to jail for a long, long time.

    • Agent Fang says:

      In the unlikely event that he is ever hauled before the court and convicted I have no doubt his penalty will be proportionally pathetic.

  9. Sky says:

    I wonder now home much Donna Karen and Anne Winters really new about what went on in stomping ground. Both ladies were good friends with Harvey.

    I wonder what just dropped about Terry Richardson because he’s finally been banned from magazines.

    • Rose says:

      Yes I just saw that I wonder what has come out about “Uncle Terry” that after years major Magazine are now banned him.

  10. Betsy says:

    Why do I imagine that as gross as he was to actresses, he was worse to models.

    You know I really hadn’t heard any rumors about him. But I don’t work in the industry and don’t follow a lot of celebrity gossip (I’ve got my people I like and hate-like, but beyond that… eh), but WHO ENABLED THIS? People knew! People who worked with him knew! People hired him! Other people with power who could have done something didn’t. And it’s disgusting.

    • Rose says:

      The people with the power to stop him did nothing because he was bring in the money and awards others just looked the other way.

  11. brooksie says:

    Everyone who has Instagram, please follow Cameron Russell. She is a model and has turned her account into a forum that shares anonymous models’ experiences with harassment and assault. It’s absolutely mind boggling.

  12. emma33 says:

    I wonder if that was one of the reasons he married his wife, for easier access to the modelling world?

    It reminds me of abuse within the Catholic church, with men being attracted to the priesthood because it would give them power and unchallenged access to children. Part of the MO of a sexual predator is to figure out how to get close to their victims in a way that won’t be questioned.

  13. JRenee says:

    Every day a new low. He truly is a disgusting human being.