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

the business of beauty can be very ugly especially in the cutthroat world of modeling it's an industry that wants to portray itself as the epitome of health and happiness the reality though 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 with the iconic lingerie company that made her famous victoria's secret is renowned for its so-called angels but she says behind the scenes devils were at work it's no secret that for decades victoria's secret was one of the most talked about brands in the world mostly because of its iconic annual fashion show [Music] you knew the impossibly glamorous angels by their first names claudia in the early days then gisele heidi miranda and kendall [Music] the performers too gaga taylor kanye everyone who was anyone wanted to be there in its heyday the victoria's secret fashion show was the supermodel olympics a few years ago australian sensation bridget malcolm strutted that famous runway do australians do this any differently to anyone else i mean i reckon [Applause] but behind her bright eyes and big smile was a sinister story i'm smiling but i can i mean i know the way i look the look in my eyes is dead i i was dead hello and welcome to my serious times in the fashion industry has really sucked there have been whispers for years about the dark side of the fashion industry times have been attacked times have been assaulted times have been harassed but bridget malcolm will be silent no more now becoming arguably the highest profile whistleblower we've seen detailing the forces that nearly destroyed her career and crippled her health i've been groomed by a much older man i've been sexually assaulted multiple times i've been told to do cocaine to lose weight from by my agent i um been told whilst i was underage to just have lots of sex to lose weight it's a bold move standing up to the powerful men in this industry but bridget says it's time for a total makeover in particular victoria's secret is her biggest target a brand with previous links to jeffrey epstein where a culture of misogyny body shaming and abuse was widespread i mean i once had one of the top photographers from victoria's secret say if you got skinnier you will become an angel i got a very interior glimpse at the machine that was running at that time and it was really sick it was really unhealthy was there a light bulb moment where you thought this can't go on yeah it was at the start of 2017 and it took me 10 minutes to climb a flight of stairs and i just reached the top and i just had that awful hollow feeling of like this is what the rest of my life is going to look like unless i do something about it now [Music] it's a much healthier bridget malcolm that we spoke with in new york still working in the industry that almost broke her but now much pickier about her clients she spent more than half her life working as a professional model after being scouted on the streets of perth at the age of 14 an agent encouraging her to enter the vivian's model search contest [Music] so i entered the competition and i wound up getting third um but the one of my dear friends was one of the judges and she said you were very weird looking um to put it lightly i hadn't quite grown into myself and i had this like red mullet that i'd cut myself i had braces like i was awkward and she's like you needed a little bit more time and i eventually grew into myself and here i am 16 years later now what would you tell that young girl that turned up to the model search that day oh boy that's a big question maybe i would say to her get into therapy early at the age of 15 an impressionable young bridget was told by her agent to lose weight and so she simply stopped eating marking the beginning of a decade-long battle with eating disorders perpetuated by an intoxicating image-based industry she says the message was simple the thinner the better [Music] was it right that you were told to do cocaine and have more sex yeah over the years i've heard all kinds of things but at the end of the day what always worked for me was just to not eat do you remember what the longest period was that you went without food so the longest i managed to go without eating was three days and i had to quit because i kept passing out and i was annoyed with myself because i was determined to make it to five days but i i couldn't like i couldn't function i couldn't move and it was incredibly frustrating i remember being so angry with myself and feeling as though i'd failed somehow in not being able to survive on just water for that long in every which way i was a shell i like personality mental physical emotional all of it i was just a shell it was awful [Music] ironically as bridget hit rock bottom she was more in demand as a model than ever before her success defied the trauma her body was going through as a result of the incessant pursuit of weight loss at 25 she stopped menstruating her hair was falling out and she could hardly climb a flight of stairs let alone walk a runway she says nowhere was the pressure to be dangerously skinny more apparent than at victoria's secret but ultimately it was being dumped by that very brand that sent her spiraling the waif thin model claims they told her she was too big after gaining half an inch on her hips how clear was the message from victoria's secret that you needed to be super skinny pretty clear i had an eating disorder i was relying on any anxiety medication i was having panic attacks constantly i was exhausted my body was malnourished my mind was malnourished and i just it was relentless what that company represented for me and for so many other women was extremely exploitative at that time you know to me it felt like controlling women getting women as small as possible and then even not being small enough like it was i'm still honestly trying to wrap my head around it and i had last eye contact with them four years ago so yeah it takes time i guess there'll be people watching this saying no one forced you to starve yourself yeah nobody was holding a gun to my head and so for the people who say like you know no one was forcing you to do this i say you're right i completely agree with you however you're incredibly privileged to not have had the experience of being in an unhealthy relationship like that it felt very controlling and it felt i don't know i've never experienced anything like it before and i hoped to never again like it was truly quite a traumatic experience bridget's story is sadly not unique has now more and more brave women are exposing the toxic and misogynistic culture that ran rampant at victoria's secret [Music] you get harassed bullied and then you also get silenced it's just another form of abuse essentially it does sound like this was effectively a culture of abuse yeah and i think it was like a chain of abuse that kind of like went from the top level and trickled down the sexiest show on 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 manhandled and harassed but recently the empire has begun crumbling the dirty secret at victoria's secret we've seen victoria's secret stores shut down all his sales decline behind the star-studded shows insiders are revealing a culture of bullying and misogyny i worked so hard for this company um i show up i do good work i'm so passionate about my job and that's what really like felt hurtful for me was this like disrespect casey crow taylor was part of the public relations team at victoria's secret her job was to help perfect the brand's glamorous annual fashion show it was just like everything i could have dreamed up and more and i just couldn't get enough i loved it victoria's secret's image was largely celebrated although there were a handful of employees talking openly about a sleazy culture behind the scenes the owner of the brand les wexner was friends with jeffrey epstein and epstein had leveraged that relationship luring young models into his web by claiming he was a recruiter for victoria's secret but for casey her brutal insight into the slimy reality at the lingerie label came in the hands of wexner's right-hand man ed razik he was the high-flying exec who created the vs fashion show and its iconic angels what are you doing on november 9th and 10th i don't know why don't you come join us [Music] every girl we've seen over the last two days could have been in any of our first five shows it's just going to be a difficult edit his decisions were make or break for so many careers positive positive energy well done keep your clothes on the incident with ed razick happened on in june 2015 we were on set at chelsea piers studio and we have like a catered lunch on set it's buffet style so i got up with my plate to go get more of whatever was good and ed physically stepped in front of me and stopped me from going up to the buffet and the first thing he said was like he was like do you really think you need more bread like are you really going to eat more food and so i kind i just froze up i stood there he kept going on like um you know like how do you look at yourself in the mirror when you leave your house in the morning how are you okay with the way you look so i put down my plate went straight to the bathroom where i had this like really just like shaky kind of shock tears just like being like what what even just happened on the one hand it must have been shocking for you that such a powerful man would belittle you like that but then on the other hand was it almost par for the course there it felt very normalized um you know i remember i remember being on set with him and his assistant and his assistant made this joke that made me feel really awkward and it was like she was like if i had a dollar for the amount of sexual harassment complaints that came across my desk like i'd be rich and it was like they both laughed and i kind of was like well that doesn't feel good when casey complained to her boss rather than investigate she claims they laughed it off it was then she discovered numerous other victoria's secret employees had made their own sexual harassment complaints about others at the company only to be silenced with non-disclosure agreements so do you think it was effectively company policy at victoria's secret that anyone who had a complaint about sexual harassment was offer them some money and just hope they go quiet yeah i know at least three people that's happened to personally the misuse of ndas specifically within victoria's secret and other companies and what frustrates me so much about it is that people are then like locked out of actually telling their story and it just like silences victims which is terrible right like people are scared to tell their story then they have to carry it around with them pr nightmare is now playing out for victoria's secret as numerous examples of toxic culture come to light the company has recently settled two lawsuits taken against it over bullying and misogyny for tens of millions of dollars for the man accused of harassing casey ed razek has resigned the incoming ceo pointedly said we need to stop being about what men want and start being about what women want victoria's secret is now undergoing a massive rebrand in a desperate effort to save its reputation and win back customers the move includes ditching the iconic angels replacing them with the vs collective a group of inspiring female activists athletes and actors to represent the label what do you think of victoria's secrets free brand um look i don't know how you can rebrand something that has caused so much damage to so many people around the world for so long it's been decades of this i don't know to me i feel like there needs to be a lot more there needs to be a public acknowledgement of what has happened there needs to be some sort of pledge otherwise it's just performative activism you know it's performative weakness mind your head testing one two three bridget malcolm has now quite literally found her voice hi my name is bridget malcolm and welcome to the model mentality podcast after having a breakdown in part due to her treatment by victoria's secret she underwent two years of intense therapy to rebuild her life and now she's created a podcast to open the conversation around mental health in the fashion industry it must be frustrating for you sometimes that stereotype of models is airheads because you're clearly whip smart and to do so would be to underestimate how powerful your voice is right yeah and it's interesting because there's this idea that like as a model i should just shut up and model you know like i shouldn't actually add my voice to the global platform and i get told a lot to stay in my lane and i'm like all right mate 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 honing her voice in an impressive way recently completing an internship at the un in the department of global communications going from victoria's secret to the united nations is a fairly unique career trajectory but this strong young woman now wants to set the model for how those who follow in her footsteps are treated the smile we saw on the runway at victoria's secret you said was forced this feels like a real smile that i'm seeing now definitely i'm genuinely happy these days i feel genuinely like the luckiest person on the planet to be able to be sitting here speaking to you today like i i can't believe that i made it to be completely honest with you you know i've had have ptsd i've had an eating disorder i've struggled with anxiety with depression with suicidal ideations like i have been through it and i'm through it i'm out the other side and i'm better for it so i want to hopefully pay it forward i want to hopefully add my voice and if other people are struggling they can see that they too can get help and get through it hello i'm tom steinfert thanks for watching 60 minutes australia subscribe to our channel now for brand new stories and exclusive clips every week and don't miss out on our extra minute segments and full episodes of 60 minutes on ninenow.com.eu as well as the nine now app

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 9,769,308

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Tom Steinfort, Sarah Abo, karl stefanovic, 60Mins, #60Mins, victoria's secret, angel, model, supermodel, glamour, lingerie, bridget, malcolm, eating disorder, skinny, weight loss, exposed, anorexia, bullying, fashion, epstein, casey crowe taylor, les wexner, ed razek

Id: yeuDcNfogME

Length: 17min 14sec (1034 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/iambluest]

TLDR?

[u/brucekeller]

Let me guess, they have to starve themselves and work out a bunch because of unrealistic body expectations like basically everyone else that appears in front of a camera because of their good looks?

[u/AncientAsstronaut]

If you want to read about the dark side of Victoria's Secret, read about it's owners connection with Epstein. Your mind will be 🤯

[u/McPoyal]

You mean to tell me that an industry that revolves around objectiviting women was... objectifying women?

Holy shit.

[u/pinkglitteryseaglass]

Im deaf and it still annoys me that subtitles aren't a thing😭

[u/Massdrive]

Why is everyone a 'supermodel" these days? They're just models

[u/skinte1]

Funny how her advise to aspiring young models is to "get into therapy early" when it should have been "get a normal job/education where your looks isn't the main requirement"

[u/Nandy-bear]

I'm just here for the comment section neckbeard rage.

[u/thewickednoodle]

Yikes. This comment section is pretty gross.

I watched the video and she comes across as very intelligent, well spoken, and grateful to be on the other side of some traumatizing years in her very young life. I wish her all the best.