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A former mannequin, who was signed by NEXT Administration, has claimed that her agent as soon as inspired her to “swallow” cotton balls.
The previous vogue mannequin, Esmeralda Seay-Reynolds, mirrored on signing with the modelling company whereas she was a young person throughout a current interview with Selection. She claimed that on the age of 16, she acquired some unsafe recommendation from her agent about what to do with a view to keep skinny.
“I bear in mind my agent saying, ‘Cotton balls are natural, so it’s effective should you simply swallow them to make your self really feel full,’” she mentioned.
When Selection requested Joel Wilkenfeld, co-founder of NEXT Administration, concerning the cotton ball incident, he mentioned: “If a mannequin would have introduced that to our consideration, that agent would have been fired proper there on the spot.”
Throughout her dialog with Selection, the previous runway mannequin recalled one other expertise that she had when signed with NEXT administration. Seay-Reynolds claimed that her brokers signed her up for a 2014 photoshoot in Reykjavík, the place she needed to pose within the freezing chilly.
“We pull as much as a glacier above freezing, ice-covered waters. And [the photographer] parks the automobile, and he’s like, ‘Climb!’” she recalled.
She additionally added that she and one other mannequin spent half-hour strolling round these glaciers in slip clothes and heels, whereas the photographer and his assistant allegedly wore parkas. Seay-Reynolds went on to say that when she tried to inform the photographer that she couldn’t change her garments on this glacier, he shut her down.
“He made us change up there,” she continued. “We needed to get bare. His assistant grabbed my arm once I [protested] and was like, ‘You’re not leaving. You’ll take an excessive amount of time.’”
The previous mannequin then recalled how a stylist stepped in when the photographer allegedly put her security in danger through the photoshoot.
“The photographer even requested us to leap over a crevice on high of the glacier, which plunged at the very least 20 toes,” she added. “Fortunately, the stylist on the shoot was like, ‘That’s not taking place. She’s going to die.’”
(Getty Photographs)
She went on to elucidate that through the subsequent day of the photoshoot, she needed to lay on frozen lava beds within the snow, earlier than going to one of many scorching springs in Iceland. She described the ache that she felt when strolling in the direction of the recent spring and the way the photographer allegedly dealt with it.
“In case you step on one, it’s going to soften your flesh off. So, you need to keep on this marked path for security. However he says, ‘Get off the trail. And watch your footing,’” she recalled. “You’re advised to do it, and also you do it. And he’s the grownup, he’s in cost.”
Seay-Reynolds mentioned that for an additional a part of the photograph shoot, she observed a big gap with a “Hazard. Do Not Enter” signal on it. She alleged that the photographer eliminated the signal earlier than they headed right into a cave, which had stalagmites stretching throughout the ground of it. She described how her security and profession had been in danger, after climbing over to 1 spot to pose with a fellow mannequin.
“Ice that can rip proper by you should you slip,” she mentioned. “There was no assist, no medic. In case you don’t do what they are saying, they are going to blacklist you. And that not solely will eff up your future profession, however all the things that you simply’ve accomplished and suffered up till that time will imply nothing.”
She famous that when she returned to the USA, she complained concerning the photographer to her brokers, who allegedly responded by saying: “Yeah, he’s identified for this.” Seay-Reynolds, who was 17 on the time of this photoshoot, additionally claimed to Selection that she was by no means paid for the 18-hour days of labor.
When requested to touch upon the photograph shoot, Wilkenfeld mentioned: “After we ship fashions to photograph shoots, we vet the folks, and we hope that that mannequin would name us in the event that they had been uncovered to situations reminiscent of this. The unlucky half is we’re not on each shoot.”
The photographer and producer additionally spoke to Selection concerning the photograph shoot, with claims that the work situations had been protected. The photographer additionally alleged that Seay-Reynolds wasn’t consuming through the photoshoot and contacted NEXT administration about his issues. He additionally mentioned that he was “upset” with the company for sending a mannequin who appeared to have struggles with an consuming dysfunction to the photograph shoot, particularly because it was a vacation spot venture.
This isn’t the primary time that Seay-Reynolds has spoken candidly about her experiences within the modelling business. Throughout an interview with Actual Ladies/Actual Tales in December 2021, she recalled how her profession as a teen mannequin felt like an “insane whirlwind”.
“Wanting again, I used to be very younger. For me, as an individual who may be very aggressive and used to working very onerous, to work actually onerous and have it not come to something may be very irritating,” she defined. “I feel I felt like my physique was the one factor I might management, so I simply type of went loopy.”
She then revealed that by the age of 17, she began to have some well being struggles, together with a seizure and liver failure. She additionally famous that she was combating an consuming dysfunction. From there, she mentioned that she left this profession behind.
“My brokers really pulled me out of modelling in order that I might achieve weight as a result of folks had been complaining that I wasn’t becoming within the garments and I appeared too ‘vascular,’” she mentioned. “It was very dangerous. I stop modelling not simply due to that however the stress was simply immense.”
Seay-Reynolds mentioned that she later checked herself into Evergreen Consuming Dysfunction Restoration Middle in Denver, Colorado. She acknowledged how this was the suitable remedy possibility for her, including: “Restoration was the place I discovered what sort of folks I would like in my life, what sort of life I wish to have and likewise how onerous I’m keen to work for it.”
The Unbiased has contacted NEXT Administration and Seay-Reynolds for remark.
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