According to reports, Carré Sutton, the ex-wife of Hollywood actor, Mickey Rourke, has accused the former French model agency boss for s*xual assault and r*pe. The case sent shockwaves through the industry and brought attention to the long-standing issue of s*xual misconduct in the modeling industry.
In a lawsuit filed in New York in 2021, Carré Sutton, also known as Carré Otis, claimed that the former Elite Model Management executive had s*xually assaulted her when she was 16 years old.
Thus, the American model and actress (now, 54) had earlier filed a lawsuit in New York against Gerald Marie, the former boss of Elite Model Agency. Also, note that several models have also accused Marie of s*xual assault in the past.
Even though the lawsuit has received a lot of media attention, some of its most important aspects have not come to light.
Here, we examine a few of the case’s key elements in greater detail.
Mickey Rourke Ex-Wife Sued Former Elite Models’ Boss Over Alleged R*pe
The power dynamic between the models and their agency companies is one important factor in this situation. In 1972, Elite Model Management, a modeling agency, was founded in Paris. Since then, it has had a big impact on the careers of models like Carré Sutton.
Gerald Marie held a position of significant power and responsibility as the director of the agency’s office. According to Sutton’s allegations, he used this power relationship improperly to force her into s*xual activity. This is true that models often find themselves in uncertain situations because they depend on agencies for work, and this power disparity can lead to abuse.
Actress and model, Carré Sutton, who is also Mickey Rourke‘s ex-wife, claimed in her prior lawsuit that Marie repeatedly r*ped and trafficked her as a teen.
According to the Manhattan federal lawsuit, Sutton claimed that Gérald Marie, the head of the Elite modeling agency at the time, s*xually assaulted her whenever his ex-wife left the apartment. Note that the three of them shared this apartment in Paris in the1980s.
Sutton, now 54, filed the lawsuit under the New York Child Victims Act, which permits s*x abuse accusers to file lawsuits against their alleged attackers regardless of when the reported incidents occurred.
According to the lawsuit, Sutton claimed that her abuse began after she left her family at the age of 16 and found employment with the Elite Modeling agency in New York in 1986. The lawsuit further alleged that Marie started abusing Sutton as soon as she moved into his apartment.
“Every time his wife [Linda Evangelista] left the apartment, defendant Marie expected plaintiff to let him r*pe her which he did repeatedly over the span of months.”
The Widespread Nature of S*xual Harassment in the Modeling Industry
Carré Sutton also claimed in her lawsuit that she was being trafficked at the time by other wealthy men in Europe, including an unnamed Italian billionaire. She was sent to his home for a supposed photo shoot.
The lawsuit alleged that when she arrived at the house, there was “only a lavish party where the billionaire attempted to r-pe [her],” rather than a shoot.
The incident sheds light on the wider issue of abuse in the fashion business. It’s challenging for models to speak out because the industry relies so heavily on strong abusive figures like Gérald Marie.
Sutton later married Mickey Rourke in 1992 and went on to have a prosperous modeling and acting career. After they got divorced in 1998, she married environmentalist, Matthew Sutton in 2005.
Well, her case is a reminder that no one is above the law. Thus, the fashion industry needs to stop supporting s*xual misconduct and put the security and welfare of its models first.
Source- NY Post
