Gérald Marie was the European head of the renowned agency Elite – and is said to have abused young clients for years. A preliminary investigation is underway against the 71-year-old in France. Ex-models like the American Carré Otis now described terrifying details.
For years they were silent. After the actresses, however, it now seems that the models’ turn has come to publicize cases of abuse that have occurred a long time ago and to take legal action against them. Since last week, previous models have been testifying in an investigation against Gérald Marie, the former European boss of the powerful modeling agency Elite.
“It haunted me for 20 years,” said Lisa Brinkworth, a former BBC journalist who started the Paris prosecutor’s investigation into Gérald Marie, which began in September 2020. “The time is ripe. He was invulnerable for too long,” said the 54-year-old.
The agency “Elite” is known because it had, among others, top models such as Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford under contract. The BBC journalist Brinkworth had been doing undercover research in 1998 for a report on the sexual abuse of minors. It was there that she also met Marie.
In a nightclub in Milan, he sat on her lap with his legs apart and penetrated her with his penis, she says. “I felt completely powerless. He kept going even though I said no, no, no,” recalls Brinkworth.
Several models raise serious allegations
Former Swedish model Ebba Karlsson, who spoke to investigators last week, said that Marie showed her photos of well-known models at the beginning of her career. “If you want to become famous, you have to surrender,” said the agency boss. “As he said this, he slipped his hand under my skirt and penetrated my vagina with his fingers.”
“I felt like someone cut off my head,” says Karlsson, describing the assault. “It took years before I felt safe in my female body again.”
Marie firmly rejects all allegations, as his lawyer Celine Bekerman emphasizes. At the end of last year, however, his ex-wife, supermodel Linda Evangelista, also stood behind the alleged victims of the sexual assault. “During my relationship with Gérald Marie, I was unaware of the sexual allegations against him, so I was unable to help these women. When I hear them now, and based on my own experiences, I believe they are the truth It breaks my heart because these are wounds that may never heal and I admire their courage and strength that they speak out today, “Evangelista told the UK newspaper in October 2020. The Canadian was married to Marie from 1987 to 1993.
Otis says she was raped “countless times”
In New York, meanwhile, he was sued by the former model Carré Otis, who was temporarily married to US actor Mickey Rourke. She accuses Gérald Marie of raping her “countless times” when she was 17 years old. He forced her into a kind of addiction in terms of food, accommodation and jobs. He also gave her cocaine on the pretext that it would make her lose weight and get more jobs as a model.
“I was trapped. I knew I had to endure the abuse in order to continue working. That was made very clear to me,” said Otis. She also accuses Marie, now 71, of having referred her to “other wealthy men all over Europe”. The French are the Harvey Weinstein of the fashion industry.
On Tuesday, Otis was questioned by investigators in Paris. Then the 52-year-old appeared at the side of five other ex-models in front of the press: “Join us!”, She said, visibly agitated, addressed to other possible victims of the agency boss. “It is time for this man to be held accountable for his crimes.”
Many of the alleged abuse cases occurred in the 1980s and 1990s and are statute barred under French law. Brinkworth hopes the deadline can be lifted because of an agreement between the BBC and the Elite Agency that kept it silent. In addition, the models hope that a victim could possibly report, in whose case the offenses are not yet statute-barred.
According to information from the AFP news agency, around 15 women have made public statements or reported to the brigade responsible for crimes against minors since the start of the investigation. The allegations range from sexual harassment to rape. Just as many other women are apparently still reluctant to make similar allegations public.
The Swedish model Ebba Karlsson hopes that other victims “have the guts, the courage to speak up”. “We are powerful now,” said the 51-year-old.
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