Supermodel Carré Otis, 52, details being ‘trafficked and repeatedly raped’ by former Elite agency boss Gerald Marie after French cops invited her and other models to testify
- Carré Sutton, now 52, held a press conference in Paris on Tuesday
- The Californian model traveled to France to speak to prosecutors about Marie
- The statute of limitations has expired but she aims to raise awareness in France
- In August Sutton filed a case against Marie under New York’s Child Victims Act
- Sutton’s activism was supported by Carla Bruni, France’s former first lady
- Milla Jovovich, Helena Christensen, Karen Elson, Paulina Porizkova all back her
- Marie has been accused of abuse by at least 11 women, six of whom went to Paris
- Now retired and living in Ibiza, Marie, 71, has denied all allegations of abuse
- His former wife Linda Evangelista said she believes the women and is horrified
- Celine Bekerman, Marie’s lawyer, said he ‘refutes with dismay these false and defamatory allegations’
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An American model who says she was raped by a boss at Elite management has repeated her claims in Paris after she and other models were invited there by French police to testify against him.
Carré Sutton, 52, last month filed a law suit in New York City accusing Gerald Marie, former head of Elite Model Management’s European division, of having ‘repeatedly raped her’ at his apartment when she was 17 years old.
And on Tuesday, she spoke out against her alleged attacker in France at a press conference – despite there being no possibility of charges, with the statute of limitations having long expired.
Sutton – who in the 90s was the face of Guess, Calvin Klein, and other defining brands of the era – claimed Marie would ply her with vials of cocaine ‘on the premise that it would allow her to lose weight to become a more successful model.’
Sutton said that, when she came on to Marie’s radar, ‘she was completely trapped.’
She told a press conference in the French capital during her visit to speak to police that she depended on Marie for food, housing and bookings.
‘I knew I had to endure the abuse in order to continue working. That was made very clear to me,’ she said.
Carré Sutton, 52, is pictured in Paris on Tuesday with Lesa Amoore. Both women have accused former Elite model manager Gerald Marie of sexual abuse – two of at least 11 women to accuse him
Sutton, who was the face of Guess and Calvin Klein in the 1990s, said that she finally got free from Marie in 1986
Sutton on the catwalk for Ermanno Scervino in Milan in September 2005
Marie, now 71, allegedly ‘trafficked’ Sutton – and other women – ‘to other wealthy men around Europe. He was known as the ‘Harvey Weinstein of the fashion industry’ across young models in the 80s and 90s
Sutton, who was married to Oscar-nominated actor Mickey Rourke from 1992-98, and is now married to environmental scientist Matthew Sutton, said it took years to process the alleged abuse, let alone discuss it.
Marie, now 71, is accused in Sutton’s suit of having ‘trafficked’ her ‘to other wealthy men around Europe’.
Dubbed ‘the Harvey Weinstein of the fashion industry’ for preying on young models in the 80s and 90s, Marie, who now lives in Ibiza, has been accused of abuse by at least 11 women.
Sutton told how she was trafficked from San Francisco to New York and then to Marie while still a child.
She said it was ‘by design and there I endured [alleged] abuse,’ adding that others have had similar experiences.
The Californian model said that she was so young she did not know how to handle the abuse.
‘As a child, it’s really what you do to survive and try to normalize or compartmentalize is classic trauma response,’ she said.
‘I move throughout my career really trying to put something to the side that was horrific and traumatic to me.’
She said she was speaking out to encourage others to follow suit, and change the culture of silence.
