Brave supermodel exposes the dark side of Victoria's Secret | 60 Minutes Australia

The beauty business can be very ugly, especially in the cutthroat world of modeling, it's an industry that wants to present itself as the epitome of health and happiness, even though the reality is anything but anorexia. Drug use and bullying are as routine as smiling for the cameras now. A very determined and

brave

Australian

supermodel

is demanding change and Bridget Malcolm is starting the iconic lingerie company that made her famous Victoria's Secret is famous for its so-called angels, but she says that behind the scenes demons were at work it's no

secret

that For decades Victoria's Secret was one of the most talked about brands in the world, mainly due to its iconic annual fashion show.

You knew the incredibly glamorous angels by their names Claudia in the early days, then Gisele, Heidi Miranda and Kendall, the artists too, Gaga Taylor, Kanye, everyone who did anyone want to be there in their heyday? The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was the

supermodel

at the Olympics a few years ago. Australian sensation Bridget Malcolm strutted down that famous runway. Do Australians do this differently to others? I mean, I think behind his bright eyes and his big ones. The smile was a sinister story. I'm smiling, but I can tell. I know the way I look, the look in my eyes is dead.

She was dead. Hello and welcome to my serious times in the fashion industry, she really has sucked. There have been whispers for years. on the

dark

side

of the fashion industry times have been attacked times have been assaulted times have been harassed but bridget malcolm will no longer be silent now becoming possibly the highest profile whistleblower we have seen detailing the forces that almost destroyed her career and paralyzed her health. A much older man prepared me. I was sexually assaulted several times. My agent told me that he should do cocaine to lose weight. When he was a minor, I was told he had a lot of sex to lose.

It's a bold move to take on the powerful men in this industry, but Bridget says it's time for a complete makeover, with Victoria's Secret in particular her biggest target, a brand with previous ties to Jeffrey Epstein where a culture of misogyny, shaming and body abuse. I mean, one of Victoria's Secret's top photographers once said that if you get slimmer you'll become an angel. I got a very deep glimpse into the machine that was running at that time and it was really sick, it was really unhealthy. There was something? Lightbulb moment where you thought this can't go on, yeah it was early 2017 and it took me 10

minutes

to walk up a flight of stairs and I just got to the top and I had that horrible empty feeling that this is it. what the rest of my life will be like unless i do something about it she is now a much healthier bridget malcolm we spoke to in new york she still works in the industry that almost ruined her but now she is much more demanding of her clients, she spent more For over half her life she worked as a professional model after being discovered on the streets of Perth at the age of 14, an agent encouraged her to enter Vivian's Model Search competition, so she entered the competition and I ended up getting third place, but my Dear friends, he was one of the judges and he said that you looked very strange.

To put it lightly, I hadn't grown at all and had this mullet that I had cut myself. I had braces like I was clumsy and she was like you need a little more time and I finally grew up and here I am, 16 years later, what would you say to that young girl who showed up to the modeling search that day? Oh boy, that's a great question, maybe I'd tell him. She began therapy early, at the age of 15, a young, impressionable Bridget was told by her agent to lose weight, so she simply stopped eating, marking the beginning of a decade-long battle with eating disorders. perpetuated by a heady image-based industry, she says.

The message was simple, the thinner the better. It's true that they told you to do cocaine and have more sex. Yes, over the years I've heard all kinds of things, but at the end of the day, what always worked for me was just not eating. Do you remember the longest period you went without eating? So the longest I managed to go without eating was three days and I had to stop because I kept fainting and I was upset with myself because I was determined to make it to five. days but I couldn't, I couldn't function, I couldn't move and it was incredibly frustrating.

I remember being so angry at myself and feeling like I had somehow failed by not being able to survive on just water for so long. in every way I was a shell I like personality mental physical emotional everything was just a shell it was horrible ironically when Bridget hit rock bottom she was more in demand as a model than ever before her success challenged the trauma her body had. was happening as a result of the relentless quest to lose weight. At age 25, she stopped menstruating, her hair was falling out and she could barely climb a flight of stairs, much less walk down a catwalk.

She says that nowhere was the pressure more evident. to be dangerously thin than in Victoria's Secret, but in the end she was abandoned by that same brand that made her crazy. The waif-thin model claims she was told she was too big after gaining half an inch on her hips. How clear was Victoria's Secret's message that you needed to be super. skinny pretty fair I had an eating disorder I was dependent on any anxiety medication I had panic attacks constantly I was exhausted my body was malnourished my mind was malnourished and it was just relentless what that company represented to me and so many other women It was extremely exploitative in that moment, you know, to me it felt like controlling women, making women as small as possible and then not even being small enough as I was.

Honestly I'm still trying to figure it out and I last had eye contact with them four years ago so yeah it takes a while I guess there are people watching this saying no one forced you to starve yeah no one was pointing a gun at me gun to the head, and so for people who say, like you know, no one was forcing you. To do this, I say you are right, I completely agree with you, however you are incredibly privileged to not have had the experience of being in an unhealthy relationship like that, I felt very controlling and felt like I don't know, I have never made.

I experienced something like this before and hoped to never feel it again as it was actually quite a traumatic experience. Unfortunately, Bridget's story is not unique. Now, more and more

brave

women are exposing the toxic and misogynistic culture that ran rampant at Victoria's Secret. They harass you, they bully you and then they silence you as well, it's just another form of abuse, essentially it sounds like this was indeed a culture of abuse, yes, and I think it was like a chain of abuse that went from the highest level and was It filtered even the sexiest program.

Earth Hansel with critics saying it's outdated and sexist for millions of women. Victoria's Secret was the ultimate in glamour. Toxic culture at Victoria's Secret. Models being ogled by executives abused and harassed, but recently the empire has begun to crumble.

victoria

's

secret

stores closed their entire sales decline behind star-studded shows in

side

rs are revealing a culture of bullying and misogyny i worked very hard for this company um, i show up, i do a good job, i'm very passionate about my job and that is what really hurt me was this was disrespectful casey crow taylor was part of

victoria

's secret's public relations team her job was to help perfect the brand's glamorous annual fashion show it was like everything i could have dreamed of and more and I just couldn't get enough.

I loved. Victoria's Secret's image was widely celebrated although there were a handful of employees speaking openly about a shoddy culture behind the scenes. The owner of the brand Les Wexner was a friend of Jeffrey Epstein and Epstein had taken advantage of that relationship to attract young people. models on his website claiming he was a recruiter for Victoria's Secret, but for Casey his brutal vision of the slimy reality at the lingerie brand came into the hands of Wexner's right-hand man, Ed Razik, he was the high-flying executive who created the vs. fashion show and its iconic angels, what are you going to do on November 9 and 10?

I don't know why you don't join us. Every girl we've seen in the last two days could have been in any of our first five shows. It's just going to be a difficult edition. His decisions were decisive for so many careers. Positive energy. Well done. Keep your clothes on. The incident with Ed Razick happened in June 2015. We were on the set of the Chelsea Piers studio and we have a catering service. Lunch on set is buffet style so I got up with my plate to go get more of whatever was good and Ed physically stood in front of me and stopped me from going to the buffet and the first thing he said was like: do you really think that you need more bread, are you really going to eat more food?

So, I froze and I just stood there, and he kept saying, um, you know, how do you look in the mirror when you leave the house? In the morning, how do you agree with your appearance? So I left my plate and went straight to the bathroom where I had this really shaking, like shock, tears like that's what just happened, on the one hand. It must have been shocking to you that such a powerful man would belittle you like that but on the other hand, it was almost normal there, it felt very normalized, you know, I remember, I remember being on set with him and his assistant and his assistant did this joke that made me feel very uncomfortable and it was like I had a dollar for the amount of sexual harassment complaints that came across my desk like I was rich and it was like they were both laughing and I Well, that doesn't feel good when Casey she complained to her boss instead of investigating, she claims they laughed it off, that's when she discovered that many other Victoria's Secret employees had come forward with their own sexual harassment complaints about others in the company only to be silenced with confidentiality agreements, so, Do you think it was indeed company policy at Victoria's Secret that anyone who had a complaint about sexual harassment was offered some money and just expected to keep quiet?

Yes, I know at least three people who have personally had misuse of NDAs happen to them specifically within Victoria's Secret and other companies, and what frustrates me so much is that people are prevented from telling their story and that just it silences the victims, which is terrible, as if people are afraid to tell their story. then they have to carry it with them because now a nightmare is unfolding for Victoria's Secret as numerous examples of toxic culture come to light. The company recently settled two lawsuits against him alleging bullying and misogyny for tens of millions of dollars for the man. accused of harassing casey ed razek resigned incoming ceo clearly said we need to stop worrying about what men want and start worrying about what women want victoria's secret is undergoing a massive rebrand in a desperate effort to save its reputation and win back customers The move includes getting rid of the iconic angels and replacing them with the vs collective, a group of inspiring activists, athletes and actresses to represent the brand, what do you think of the free Victoria's Secrets brand?

Look, I don't know how you can change the name of something that has caused so much. so much damage to so many people around the world for so long it's been decades of this I don't know for me I feel like there has to be a lot more there has to be a public acknowledgment of what has happened there has to be something a kind of promise, of what Otherwise, it's just performative activism, you know, it's performative weakness, watch your head, try one, two, three, Bridget Malcolm has literally found her voice. Hello, my name is Bridget Malcolm and welcome to the Model Mindset Podcast.

After suffering a nervous breakdown in part due to her Victoria's Secret treatment, she underwent two years of intense therapy to rebuild her life and has now created a podcast to open the conversation about mental health in the fashion industry. It must be frustrating for you sometimes, that stereotype of models as airheads because you're clearly intelligent and to do so would be to underestimate how powerful your voice is, right, yes, and it's interesting because there's this idea that, as a model, I should keep quiet. and modeling, you know, I shouldn't add my voice to the global platform and I get told a lot to stay in my lane and I'm like, okay buddy, like you, stay in your lane, what's your job?

Yeah, I'd love to break that stereotype a little bit these days, Bridgette is perfecting her voice. Impressively, recently completing an internship at the UN in the Department of Global Communications, moving from Victoria's Secret to the United Nations, it's quite a career path.unique, but this strong young woman now wants to set the model for what those who follow in her footsteps are like. I tried the smile we saw on the Victoria's Secret runway. You said she was forced. This feels like a real smile I'm seeing now. I'm definitely really happy these days. I truly feel like the luckiest person on the planet to be able to be. sitting here talking to you today like I can't believe I made it to be completely honest with you you know I've had PTSD I've had an eating disorder I've struggled with anxiety with depression with suicidal ideation like me I've been through this and I've already done it.

I have overcome I'm on the other side and I'm better for it, so I hope I can pay it forward. Hopefully I want to add my voice and if other people are struggling, they can see that I can also get help and get through it. Hi soy.tom steinfert thanks for watching 60

minutes

australia

subscribe to our channel now to receive new stories and exclusive clips every week and don't miss our bonus minutes segments and full 60 minutes episodes on ninenow.com.eu as well as the nine now app