The modelling industry may appear glossy and engaging, but investigative journalist and author Ian Halperin saw the modelling industry's sleazy side when he went undercover as a model.
By Dawn Mellowship
On the surface, nothing seems to sum up style, glamour, chic, beauty and elegance better than the modelling industry. Little girls dream of sashaying down the catwalk in avant-garde haute couture gowns, apparently more so now than ever before, with one study highlighting that 62% of teenager girl would rank modelling as their dream job. In truth, reality often falls far short of our expectations and Ian Halperin was one investigative journalist who was sure that more lurked beneath the seductive surface.
"A seventeen year old close relative of mine went to Milan and he was scouted by one of the top agents in the modeling industry. The agent just plied him with drugs and alcohol and tried to rape him. He had to undergo counselling. After he gave me all the details I thought the least I can do is educate kids and parents about some of the dark side of the industry."
Ian later wrote two books about his experiences: Shut Up and Smile: Supermodels and the Dark Side and Bad and Beautiful: Inside the Dazzling and Deadly World of Supermodels, which received critical acclaim in the US and the UK.
Initially Ian found it difficult to infiltrate the industry but after signing up with some agents he eventually got some casting calls and photo shoots, along with a trunk load of party invitations.
"I started hanging out with a lot of the top models. I would say that about 85% of the models I saw were heavy drug users. One thing lead to another and what I saw was pretty disturbing. At some of these parties there were so many drugs. At one party in particular I saw this guy slip Ruhipnol, the date rape drug, into someone's drink. "
Los Angeles is where Ian's experience began. He recalls speaking to one seventeen year old model, Amanda Reilly who described her experience as rollercoaster ride of highs and lows. In a just a few months she spent $35,000 pursuing her dream and not wanting to feel left out she became embroiled in a world of non-stop partying and drugs. Amanda revealed,
"I love getting completely wasted. If I didn't, I don't think I'd be able to last here. Everyone I meet in the business seems to depend on drugs"
Amanda is not the only one, according to Ian many models get sucked into this way of life and once they start taking drugs it is difficult to escape.
"It is an addiction. One of the models kept giving me money before her shoot and asking me to go and buy her drugs because she couldn't go on the catwalk without her fix."
Another model called Mira as well as indulging in drugs "attributed part of her success to pandering to corrupt agents," saying,
"I have been forced to do some things that I didn't want to do. No matter what an agent says and how innocent he looks, when he meets a model, he wants to fuck her. Most of the successful models have fucked their way to the top."
Many models come not from broken homes but from "middle to upper income families," Ian reported, but once they are away from their families they naturally slip into the wilder elements of the industry.
After his LA experiences Ian headed over to Italy's fashion capital Milan where he was exposed to even more shocking scenes. He explained that the media usually turn a blind eye to model's stories of sexual abuse. One model that did hit the headlines was a fifteen year old girl called Maja, who was allegedly raped. She arrived in Milan with her father but as soon as he left Maja's dream turned into a nightmare
"Older men repeatedly hit on her, taking her out to Milan's notorious drug infested discos. Maja was introduced to booze and cocaine."
Filio Dipili a fashion photographer at the club that night said,
"Four Italian playboys were all over her, putting their hands up her dress and touching her breasts. It was disgusting. I've seen much worse. I've seen girls thirteen and fourteen having sex with forty year old men in the club bathrooms."
When Maja developed a STI she went to a Milan hospital and noticing that she had been sexually abused the doctor treating her, called the police. Mandelli the chief executive officer of Flash Management in Milan explained that,
"It happens everywhere- in Paris, New York and London-where models and other fashion professionals work together. But along with the professionals come these parasites, playboys with money in their pockets who promise the girls the world and deliver violence and drugs instead."
Eva Dijkstra who once modelled for Elite Management in the 1980s and 90s says that she had a fantastic time working as a model and managed to avoid the more nefarious exploits such as taking drugs. She does however say that she headed home from Milan after an unusual request from an agency.
"I was in Milan and I saw this whole playboy scene. I actually had a boyfriend at the time also a model with the same agency in Milan and we were told not to be seen together because we wouldn't get any work, so we decided to go home. I was only eighteen but I was not prepared to play these games."
Of course these sorts of activities have been going on since the birth of the industry. One former model Harriet Connors, now forty seven, who was regarded as a top model in the 60s explains that her agent got her into drugs and sexually abused her on a number of occasions.
"He instructed me to have sex with these Hollywood celebrities he fixed me up with. He said if I didn't it would hurt my career. It was the most awful period of my life because I felt more like a high-class hooker than I did a model."
It is not uncommon Ian reports for models to be murdered, stalked and held hostage. Some models even seek revenge on agents who have abused them.
"One model in Milan told me that she was so disgusted with her agent because he raped her that she was hiring a hit-man to kill the agent," Ian explains.
Following his experiences in Milan Ian headed to New York, where in one night club he chatted to an assistant model agent who talked about what he considered to be the perks of the job.
"Modeling is just one part of their jobs. When I sign a girl up, I make sure to take them out to a club the first night, get them drunk and fuck them as soon as possible. Once you fuck them the party begins. Most of the models I bring are between fifteen and eighteen years old."
Ian explains that he met few agents who didn't seem to have a hidden agenda.
"There are only a handful of agents who were decent and they will only take on a few clients. The rest of the industry is pretty much sleaze. It is a way of life for the models once they get initiated and no one is encouraging them to get rehabilitated."
Why do the authorities not step in? Antonio Luciano, who worked as a model in London and Milan explained,
"My cousin is a cop in Milan and he's told me that a lot of the cops are paid off to keep silent. They're afraid that tourism would drop."
A British psychologist, Rebecca Holmes who has counselled many female models claims that she regularly hears horror stories from the models that come to see her.
"They reach a point where they have become so disgusted with themselves that they want to commit suicide The ones who aren't fortunate enough to get counselling often do."
You may well wonder how models manage to party all night and turn up for a shoot where appearance is cardinal. According to Ian, models employ various methods for covering their track marks caused by heroin needles, including shooting up heroin under their toe nails and in between their toes, prior to a shoot. Models have even gone blind injecting heroin into their eyes.
A Heavy Burden
Of course weight is a big issue in the modelling industry and drugs as well as being a form of escapism keep model's weight down. In a Daily Mail article written by fashion editor Liz Jones on 21st September 2006, former model Paige Adams-Gellar, who now designs Paige Premium Denim jeans explained how she would turn up for a shoot and be offered a line of coke. She even admits to being on shoots where syringes of heroine were "laid out for the models." She would say "no thanks, I prefer to starve myself."
Former model Eva Dijkstra believes that the trend towards more skinny models that has developed since the nineties is tragic but she also reflects on the positive side of modelling.
"I think the skinny trend is awful. I was with Elite Models One and they never turned around and said you need to lose some weight when I was a model. Now every day there is something about it in the newspapers. The industry needs to push some curvier and healthier role models. Don't get me wrong modelling can be a great job. We had a fabulous time. I would not change it for the world. I just think it is quite dangerous when it is made out to be so amazingly glamorous and wonderful."
Another trend Ian reports in his book Bad and Beautiful is for models being prostituted out to wealthy Arab sheiks by their agents for vast sums of money.
"That is really common. Even some of the well known models we see on television or in the fashion magazines are selling themselves for $20,000 or $30,000 per night and they will sleep with wealthy businessmen and CEOS all over the world because they request their services."
Easy Pickings
Other big problems endemic in the modelling industry include agency scams. Katie Froud is a former model and founder of Alba Model Info, set up in the UK in 1995 as an independent modelling advice service to the public and industry watchdog. Katie made the decision to set up Alba after the Conservative government at the time scrapped the registration and vetting process for agencies in the UK. This meant that anyone could set up as an agent without be subjected to any kind of checks.
In 2001 Katie proposed that the vetting system should be returned but her proposal was rejected, leaving con men to continue setting up agencies.
Katie warns of some of the most common scams.
"The biggest scam going is the set up and shut down merchants who advertise prolifically in free magazines. They take anyone and everyone on whether they are suitable or not charge them about £200-£300 to join. Within 6 months they have gone only to set up possibly a month or two later under another name in another town."
Paedophiles have also been known to set up agencies.
"Unfortunately we had a case about two or three years ago of a convicted paedophile who had posed as an agent/photographer. He went to prison and having only served half his term, came out and took an assumed name. Within a month had set up as a model agent again. Very sadly this time he actually did get at some children. He is back in prison but there is nothing to stop him doing it again when he gets out."
Katie advises those considering going into the industry to make sure that an agent is Alba recommended or at least Association of Model Agents registered. Online scouting agencies, hotel scouting seminars and any agents that charge a fee to join are not legitimate says Katie.
"The only thing you need to see if an agency is interested in interviewing you, is a snap shot picture."
Ian's advice for potential models is,
"Have your parents there the whole way with you and make sure they are completely involved. Some how keep active in school. A lot of these people who stay in modelling have given up school and at twenty or twenty one years old they have nothing to do with their lives because they are deemed too old."
Extracts from Ian Halperin's book Bad and Beautiful: Inside The Dazzling and Deadly World of Supermodels, have been used in this article.
For more information about Alba Model Info, agency scams and legitimate agencies see www.albamodel.info.