Victoria's Secret angel Sara Sampaio detailed her own experience with harassment in the modeling world on Instagram Thursday, alleging French publication Lui Magazine of pressuring her to pose nude on-set and publishing the images without her consent.
"Today, I feel compelled to share a recent experience I had with the French men's magazine, Lui. I want every model and every woman to know they have the right to make their own choices about their body and image," she said.
The model further explained that she had a strict "No Nudity" clause in her contract for the David Bellemere shoot, and she and her management team went to great lengths to ensure the idea wouldn't even become a topic of conversation.
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View Story"My agency and I insisted on having a clear agreement in place to protect myself in order to control the choice I made around not being shot nude," she added. "Throughout the shoot day, I needed to constantly defend myself and reiterate my boundaries with no nude images, making sure I covered myself as best as I could."
"I was bullied," she continued. "Many times, I was showed nude images of myself as examples to coerce me into posing nude, and whenever I stood my ground and refused, I was criticized and judged as being difficult."
While reviewing the photos after the shoot, she noticed some "accidental" nudity and said she was "assured" by the publication that they wouldn't see the light of day.
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View StoryThe cover dropped online last week, showing Sampaio wearing a pair of white briefs and fur wrap, with her nipples exposed. "The magazine lied and proceeded to publish the cover image of me with nudity, which was in clear violation of our agreement," she said.
Lui, the French equivalent of Playboy, has featured A-list stunners such as Rihanna, Alessandra Ambrosio, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss and Gisele Bundchen topless or in the nude.
Sampaio concluded her story saying she plans to sue the publication for infringing the contract. "I want to do what I can to prevent this from happening to me again, and to others," she said.
Read her statement in full below:
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