[imagesource: Sky UK]

Gerald Marie may never spend a day behind bars.

At least the world will know about the French agent’s alleged serial abuse of models, during the time he was actually married to world-famous supermodel Linda Evangelista.

As part of a new documentary called Scouting For Girls: Fashion’s Darkest Secret, four women have come forward to detail allegations of sexual abuse they encountered while working in the industry.

Model Carre Sutton told Sky News she was only 17 when she was “repeatedly raped by Marie, one of the industry’s most powerful men”:

Now aged 53, Sutton – who rose to fame under the name Carre Otis [pictured below in 1991] – tells Sky News she would be “happy to go face to face” in court with Marie, who vehemently denies all sexual abuse allegations against him from several women…

Image: Bruce Weber

Sutton is one of at least 11 women who have reportedly filed testimonies to a Paris prosecutor claiming they were sexually assaulted by Marie, the former European head of Elite modelling agency.

Unfortunately, France has a statute of limitations of 30 years for allegations of sexual abuse in the case of minors so Marie cannot be criminally prosecuted in many of the cases.

The four women featured in the documentary say industry insiders were well aware of the abuse that was happening and were “totally complicit”. Paris, in particular, was notorious for allowing vulnerable young women to be abused.

Alongside Marie, French agent Jean-Luc Brunel is also singled out as a serial abuser. The one-time associate of Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself in his prison cell in February following his detainment on allegations of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment.

Marianne Shine says she was raped by Brunel while working as a model in Paris in the 1980s and tells Sky News that learning of his death was “infuriating”.

“Here we actually had a perpetrator in the palm of our hands,” she says.

“There were so many times I was ready to go to Paris to testify and then they put it off and put it off.”

The extent of Brunel’s alleged crimes is detailed in this harrowing special investigation.

Scouting For Girls: Fashion’s Darkest Secret launches on Sky this Friday, June 24.

Fashion’s darkest secret has been exposed, and its survivors need to be heard.

A co-production from @Guardian and @WonderhoodHQ, Scouting For Girls: Fashion’s Darkest Secret reveals exploitation and abuse within the fashion industry. pic.twitter.com/V0tq6537tE

— Sky TV (@skytv) June 20, 2022

Shawna Lee was just 15 when she was entered into the 1992 ‘Look of the Year’ modelling contest:

In the weeks leading up to the competition… Lee was sent to Paris by Elite where she says she was raped by Gerald Marie.

She says Marie learnt she had confided in a fellow model and berated her, suggesting her career would be on the line and telling her: “What else are you going to do? Go back home and flip burgers?”

In response to the allegations against him, a lawyer for Marie said he “firmly objects” and called the women’s claims “false”:

“He remains calm and refuses to participate in the fallacious and dishonest media controversy that has been fomented more than 30 years later,” the lawyer added.

Sounds like #TimesUp, Gerald.

It’s never too late to be held accountable for your actions.

[source:sky]