Dutch supermodel Karen Mulder has claimed she was silenced over the abuse allegations she made about the high-profile figures in the entertainment industry more than 20 years ago.
Mulder — one of the highest-paid models of the 1990s — claimed during a 2001 appearance on the French TV show Tout le monde en parle that she had been raped by high-profile figures in the modelling industry, as well as by European royalty, politicians and police officers.
Her interview was cut from the show and Mulder was admitted to a private psychiatric clinic afterwards, according to a report in The Independent. Mulder largely stepped out of the public eye since the incident, while her peers like Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell continued to have thriving careers.
Speaking to Vogue Germany in her first interview in 20 years, Mulder, 57, claimed that she was “locked away” and “silenced” after she made those claims.
“I was forced to say I had made it all up,” she told the publication, though she did not specify who she was referring to.
Mulder added she was exposed to “horrible, inhumane things” during her time in the entertainment industry.
“I thought that because I'm famous, people would believe me,” she added. “All I wanted was for all these bad things to stop, for men to stop thinking they could do whatever they wanted.”
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Mulder added that she was often an extremely friendly person, but her smile was a “defense mechanism.”
"Inside I didn't always feel like it. I was often far too friendly; friendly even to the wrong people. But that's over now,” she said.
While Mulder told Vogue that she had never met disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein personally, the supermodel has been celebrated on social media as an early whistleblower of such abuses in the wake of the latest release of documents in the Epstein files and the MeToo movement.
Mulder’s agent was Gerald Marie, one of the most powerful men in fashion and owner of Elite Model Management.
In July, it was revealed that Marie, 76, was facing rape allegations by six women, some of whom were models who worked for him in the 1980s and 1990s. Marie denied all claims.
Mulder was known in the industry as “the blonde with class” during the height of her career, and worked extensively with Chanel, Dior, Versace and Victoria’s Secret, as well as appearing on the cover of Vogue nine times.
In 1996, she was named the “Model of the Year” and was among the highest-paid models of the decade with a day rate of more than $10,000.
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