Once celebrated by the biggest names in fashion for his edgy and daring campaign shoots, today photographer Terry Richardson’s career is overshadowed by the mounting sexual assault and harassment allegations against him.
Despite years of assault allegations and countless reports of lewd behaviour – not to mention his infamous “it’s not who you know, it’s who you blow. I don’t have a hole in my jeans for nothing” statement to Hint magazine 10 years ago, it appears that, yet again, a powerful predator has been protected by an industry of open secrets.
On Tuesday, following on from the slew of allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein, The Telegraph broke revealed Richardson has been banned from working with many major magazine titles. A leaked email from Condé Nast International – which publishes a range of world-renowned titles including Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ and Glamour – reveals that the company will no longer feature material from the controversial photographer.
Below, the complete list of sexual harassment and assault allegations made towards Terry Richardson.
Model Liskula Cohen, 2001
Model Liskula Cohen is on the record as walking out of a 2002 Vogue photo shoot after Richardson allegedly made explicit requests.
“I worked with him once… and I would never work with him again,” she told Girlie Girl Army in 2013. “Not even if it was a zillion dollar contract with security guards and my own mother present. This monster has brought me so much unhappiness in my life from one photo shoot. You may think that is crazy, but it’s true.”
She went on to reveal more about the shoot in 2014. “He wanted me to be completely naked and pretend to give one of the men a sex act, while he was also naked,” she told New Statesman. Cohen alleges that the men were not models or actors but Richardson’s friends.
Coco Rocha, 2007
After shooting for French Vogue, supermodel Coco Rocha said, “I won’t work with Terry Richardson again,” saying that she “didn’t feel comfortable” and “won’t do it again.”
New York stylist, 2008
Anna, a New York writer and stylish, alleges that Richardson assaulted her while on a photo shoot.
“I felt a dick pressing into the side of my face. Terry Richardson’s semi-hard penis was plunged into the outside of my cheek, and he was jabbing it into my face,” she wrote in a letter she sent to Jezebel.
Anna left the shoot and refused an offer to return after Richardson’s assistant phoned her and called her Richardson’s “new muse.”
Sena Cech, 2009
At 19, model Sena Cech was allegedly asked by Richardson’s assistant to give him a violent hand job during a naked photoshoot.
“I did it. But later I didn’t feel good about it,” Cech said in Sara Ziff’s documentary Picture Me.
Scout Willis, 2012
At 21, Scout Willis (the daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore) allegedly reported a sexual assault encounter with Richardson on her Twitter account.
“Last night Terry Richardson tried to finger me, I didn’t let him, obviously. But I did let him photograph me topless in the bathroom.”
Dianna Agron, 2010
In a GQ cover shoot featuring Glee stars Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Dianna Agron, the two female stars were pictured in racy clothing which their male co-star was fully dressed.
Agron shared her regret about the photos on her personal blog.
Richardson’s intern, 2004
The Observer reported New York University student and then intern for Richardson, Alex, was pictured performing a sexual act on Richardson while in a trash can with the word ‘Slut’ plastered across her forehead.
Model Jamie Peck, 2010
In a personal essay published on The Gloss, Jamie Peck alleges that Richardson suggested to make tea out of her used tampon and encouraged her to take photos of Richardson while assistants photographed them.
She said the encounter concluded with her giving him a hand job, while an assistant threw her a towel to clean up. “I’m not sure how he maneuvered me over to the couch, but at some point he strongly suggested I touch his terrifying penis … He was so darn friendly and happy about it all, and his assistants were so stoked on it as well, that I didn’t want to be the killjoy in the room,” she wrote. “My new fake friends would’ve been bummed if I’d said no. I must have said something about finals, because he told me, ‘If you make me come, you get an A.’ So I did! Pretty fast, I might add. All over my left hand. His assistant handed me a towel.”
Charlotte Waters, 2014
Model Charlotte Waters told Vocativ that she was just 19 when Richardson ” told me to perform oral sex on him.”
“He started aggressively kissing me. I don’t even really remember what specific things were happening at that point, but he was directing everything. Like, ‘OK squeeze my balls,’ ‘OK, put my dick in your mouth,’ ‘OK, now kiss me.’ It wasn’t intimate. He also straddled me and started jerking off on my face.” All while his assistant continued to take photos.
Cole Sprouse, 2014
When the hashtag #NoMoreTerry went viral, in a stream of anti-Richardson tweets, ex-Disney star Cole Sprouse branded Richardson a “public deviant” on Twitter.
Model Gabriella, 2005
Gabriela Johansson sued Richardson in 2005 for fraud, misappropriation, invasion of privacy, breach of contact, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Johansson alleges she was pressured to pose naked and when she refused, saying she was uncomfortable, she was terminated and the case was settled discreetly.
Model Rie Rasmussen, 2010
Model, Rie Rasmussen confronted Terry Richardson about being manipulative with young girls in his book Terryworld, where naked underage girls were depicted as performing sex acts.
When approached by Rasmussen, Richardson reportedly fled and called her agent to complain about her behaviour.
“It was the most cowardly thing I have ever seen,” Rasmussen said. She went on to tell Page Six that Richardson “takes girls who are young, manipulates them to take their clothes off and takes pictures of them they will be ashamed of. They are too afraid to say no because their agency booked them on the job and are too young to stand up for themselves.”
Miley Cyrus, 2013
Following her iconic video for ‘Wrecking Ball’, which was directed by Richardson, he later posted racy photo of Cyrus on his website. The singer has now revealed she regrets the sexual direction of the video clip.
Emma Appleton, 2014
Model, Emma Appleton allegedly received a Facebook message from Richardson that he would book her for a photo shoot with Vogue if she had sex with him. Facebook has since confirmed that this message was not sent by Richardson, but the scandal did lead to Vogue’s rejection of future collaboration with the photographer.
Audrey Gelman, 2013
Richardson’s ex-girlfriend Audrey Gelman, took to Twitter to defend her best friend Lena Dunham, tweeting that she and Dunham tried to see the good in someone and both have regrets in regards to their ties with Richardson.
Richardson has always denied any allegations of harassment or exploitation. “He is an artist who has been known for his sexually explicit work so many of his professional interactions with subjects were sexual and explicit in nature but all of the subjects of his work participated consensually,” a spokeswoman for 52-year-old said in a statement to The Telegraph.
However, it pays to note that he’s also said: “I was a shy kid and now I’m this powerful guy with a boner, dominating all these girls.”
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