Famed fashion photographer Terry Richardson was accused of rape by former Ford model Caron Bernstein in an expose by the New York Daily News Thursday.
Bernstein told the outlet that when she arrived at Richardson’s studio in 2003 for a photo shoot to promote her upcoming new music career she was flattered, but that excitement soon turned to fear following her nightmare photo shoot. (RELATED: Kate Upton Was ‘Horrified’ Terry Richardson Released This Video Of Her Dancing The Cat Daddy [VIDEO])
NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 17: Terry Richardson attends the New York Premiere of Tom Ford’s “Nocturnal Animals” at Monkey Bar on November 17, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Focus Features)
The model said that being a lingerie model made her comfortable with nudity and posed for the topless shot with the fashion photographer wearing only a pair of white underwear.
She said at first Richardson took some shots, then positioned her in a chair for several more photos before he allegedly exposed his penis to her and forced it into her mouth.
“It was like literally being shot with a stun gun. My brain just went on pause,” Bernstein shared. “I wasn’t doing anything. I wasn’t performing as a model.”
“I was like a deer in the headlights,” she added. “I wasn’t drugged, I wasn’t handcuffed. Thank God that never happened. But in a weird way, that would have made it easier to forgive myself for not fighting him off.”
Richardson has denied the allegations through his lawyer.
“Ms. Bernstein knowingly and willingly posed for these photographs and at all times prior to and during the shoot, any contact she had with Mr. Richardson was consensual,” the photographer’s lawyer Brad D. Rose shared.
Bernstein said it was after others left the room that Richardson ejaculated on her chest and continued to take pictures. The News viewed a handful of negatives from the shoot that showed the model “in different positions with semen on her breasts.” Her face was cropped out of those prints.
The allegations aren’t the first ones against the man who at one point photographed everyone from Beyonce to Barack Obama. Over the years, many fashion labels and magazines have cut ties with him after models accused him of a variety of sexual misconduct allegations.
In October, following the sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein and the explosion on social media of the #MeToo campaign, outlets like Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair and Glamour magazine shared that Richardson was banned from their publications.
“Condé Nast has nothing planned with Terry going forward,” a spokesperson for the media group told the outlet. “Sexual harassment of any kind is unacceptable and should not be tolerated.”