Bridget Malcolm says she was informed to do cocaine and have intercourse to drop some weight whereas underage

Former Victoria’s Secret mannequin Bridget Malcolm says she was informed to do cocaine and have intercourse when she was an adolescent – as a result of an agent insisted it might assist her to ‘drop some weight’. 

The 29-year-old recalled the stunning recommendation in a brand new social media video, during which she opened up in regards to the lasting psychological and bodily harm her time working within the vogue trade has left her with, detailing struggles with consuming problems, PTSD, and anxiousness and melancholy. 

Bridget, who’s from Western Australia, additionally acknowledged that she was ‘groomed by a a lot older man’ and ‘sexually assaulted a number of instances’ earlier than her 18th birthday.    

‘By the age of 18, I would lived in three nations alone, I would traveled to all continents aside from Antarctica, I would been groomed by a a lot older man, I would been sexually assaulted a number of instances, I would been informed to do cocaine to drop some weight by my agent,’ she stated within the eye-opening video.  

‘I used to be informed weekly… I would been below lots of strain to drop some weight by my companies [and] I developed PTSD. 

‘I would been informed while I used to be underage to simply have plenty of intercourse to drop some weight.’ 

Talking out: Former Victoria’s Secret mannequin Bridget Malcolm says an agent informed her to ‘do cocaine’ and ‘have intercourse’ so as to drop some weight when she was below the age of 18

Profession: The 29-year-old, seen within the 2016 Victoria’s Secret Trend Present, says she was additionally ‘groomed by a a lot older man’ and ‘sexually assaulted a number of instances’ earlier than she turned 18 

She didn’t identify the agent or company in query, nonetheless Bridget has been signed to a number of big-name corporations, and is at present on the board of New York-based IMG, the identical company that appears after Gigi Hadid and Karlie Kloss. 

Bridget, who was signed to her first company – Australian firm Vivien’s – on the age of 14, went on to share how the fixed strain to slim down and look a sure method affected her psychological well being, detailing struggles with consuming problems, and melancholy and anxiousness.

The mannequin additionally started battling substance abuse, explaining that her extreme anxiousness made her really feel as if she could not attend social capabilities with out counting on alcohol to ease her nerves.  

‘I used to be battling my gender identification and I had developed anorexia and orthorexia [unhealthy focus on eating healthy food], and anxiousness and melancholy,’ she stated.

‘I could not socialize with out consuming and was growing fairly the reliance on Xanax and Ambien so as to get me by the night time. And that was earlier than I turned 18. It did not get higher from there.’

Bridget – who walked in two Victoria’s Secret Trend Reveals, in 2015 and 2016 – didn’t reveal when all of this occurred, nonetheless she turned 18 on November 3, 2009, suggesting that the ‘abuse’ she referred to all happened earlier than she started working with the lingerie large.  

Childhood: Bridget was scouted by her first agent at age 14, and by 17 she was strolling in New York Metropolis Trend Week exhibits (pictured) 

Battle: Behind the scenes, Bridget, seen backstage at a vogue present when she was 17, says that she was battling consuming problems, anxiousness, and melancholy

Nevertheless, the psychological well being struggles that had been sparked by these early experiences had been long-lasting and caught along with her all through a lot of her profession, earlier than lastly coming to a head on her 26th birthday in 2017 – the identical 12 months that she says she was rejected from the Victoria’s Secret present as a result of ‘her physique didn’t look adequate’. 

‘Eight years later, on my 26th birthday, I had a nervous breakdown and I could not depart my home for a 12 months with out panic assaults and extreme anxiousness,’ she revealed.

‘I additionally had a bout with suicidal ideations, which was terrifying, and that was 4 years in the past.’ 

In latest months, Bridget has been extremely outspoken in regards to the bodily and psychological toll her modeling profession has taken, and he or she defined that she has been requested by quite a lot of individuals what made her resolve to talk out now, so a few years after she suffered the ‘abuse’.  

‘In the present day, I’m two years-plus sober, I’m 4 years in restoration from an consuming dysfunction. I am completely happy, I am balanced, I am robust, and I really feel the perfect I’ve ever felt,’ she shared.

‘The truth is, I could not discuss my experiences earlier than I reached this place as a result of I’d have intense PTSD flashbacks, I’d have panic assaults, and I would not be OK. 

‘However I’m OK now, and that is why I am talking out. 

Upset: Though a lot of the abuse that Bridget detailed happened earlier than she turned 18, the damaging impacts had been long-lasting, and on her 26th birthday she had a ‘nervous breakdown’

Bridget has beforehand shared the strain she felt to drop some weight as a mannequin, revealing in 2019 that she was rejected from a job for gaining ‘half an inch’, whereas sharing photographs from that point

‘I’m in stable restoration and I am robust sufficient for any backlash, and I wasn’t earlier than this. 

‘The one purpose why I am doing it’s because I’m a robust believer that the style trade wants to vary. 

‘I’m one of many fortunate fashions. I used to be in a position to make an extended profession out of the style trade however my job mustn’t embrace abuse. And that’s the reason I am talking up now.’ 

The attention-opening new video comes simply days after Bridget slammed Victoria’s Secret’s woke new picture as a ‘joke’, accusing the corporate of ‘performative allyship’ whereas revealing how underweight she was whereas strolling in its annual present again in 2016. 

Bridget hit out on the firm in a June 26 TikTok video during which she tried on the skimpy 30A cup bra that she wore within the Victoria’s Secret present to show how tiny it’s on her now-‘wholesome’ dimension 34B breasts.   

She went on to element her adverse experiences with the lingerie model, which not too long ago introduced that it has axed its catwalk present and forged of Angels in favor of hiring a bunch of seven ‘numerous spokeswomen’, together with transgender and plus-size fashions, who will promote its woke new rebrand in a podcast.    

‘Too little, too late Victoria’s Secret,’ Bridget captioned the video, including: ‘Your performative allyship is a joke.’

Talking out: Former Victoria’s Secret mannequin Bridget Malcolm has slammed the lingerie model whereas attempting on the 30A bra she modeled at its 2016 present, revealing how small it’s on her now 

Criticism: Bridget, who shared that she is now a ‘wholesome’ dimension 34B, revealing that the undergarment was ‘too large for her’ when she wore it backstage on the Paris runway present 

Wanting again: Bridget, seen carrying the bra backstage, has been open in her criticism of Victoria’s Secret and the unhealthy strain she confronted to remain slim throughout her time as a mannequin

Performative allyship, also called performative activism, is a time period used to explain when an individual or model publicly aligns itself with a trigger so as to enhance their public picture and popularity.   

Bridget, who has usually claimed she felt strain to keep up an unhealthy weight throughout her days as a mannequin, additionally opened up about her personal adverse experiences with Victoria’s Secret whereas attempting on the sparkly white bra that she had modeled backstage at its 2016 present. 

‘I discovered my bra from the 2016 Victoria’s Secret vogue present,’ she defined in her TikTok publish, whereas holding up the tiny undergarment. ‘It’s a dimension 30A.

‘I’m now a dimension 34B. Which is wholesome for me.’  

Placing on the undergarment over a red-and-white bikini high, Bridget confirmed how small it’s on her now, earlier than sharing photographs of herself modeling the bra backstage on the 2016 present, which happened in Paris, revealing that it was truly to ‘large for her’ on the time.  

She additionally shared that she was rejected from the present the next 12 months by former Victoria’s Secret govt Ed Razek, who she claimed informed her that her ‘physique didn’t look adequate’. 

‘I used to be rejected from the present in 2017 by Ed Razek,’ she stated. ‘He stated “my physique didn’t look adequate”. I wore a dimension 30B at that time.’ 

Recollections: Holding up the bra to the digicam, Bridget confirmed off the scale 30A label, earlier than attempting the undergarment on over a bikini high to point out how small it now’s on her wholesome body

Shifting on: Bridget additionally accused the lingerie firm of ‘performative allyship’ after it scrapped its notorious ‘Angels’ in favor of hiring a ‘numerous’ line-up of ‘spokeswomen’

Upset: The mannequin, pictured strolling within the 2015 present in New York Metropolis, claimed that former VS govt Ed Razek rejected her in 2017 as a result of ‘her physique did not look adequate’

Wanting again on pictures of herself backstage in 2016, Bridget stated that she is now heartbroken over how ‘unhappy’ she was on the time. 

‘The disappointment behind my eyes from the 2016 present breaks my coronary heart,’ she added.  

Razek resigned from his function as Chief Advertising Officer for Victoria’s Secret guardian firm L Manufacturers in 2019, days after the lingerie model employed its first transgender mannequin – having sparked outrage the earlier 12 months when he insisted that its present ‘mustn’t’ characteristic ‘transsexuals’ as a result of it ‘is a fantasy’. 

Controversy: Razek give up his job on the lingerie model in 2019, lower than a 12 months after sparking fury when he insisted that transgender fashions shouldn’t be forged within the Victoria’s Secret present ‘as a result of it’s a fantasy’

His feedback prompted fury the world over – forcing the advertising and marketing guru to concern a public apology. 

Razek then introduced his retirement from L Manufacturers, the place he had labored for greater than three a long time, in August 2019, lower than every week after Victoria’s Secret revealed that it had employed its first transgender mannequin, Valentina Sampaio. 

On the time, Victoria’s Secret had come below growing criticism for its blatant lack of variety and for selling a hypersexualized picture of girls. 

Within the two years since Razek stepped down from the model, it has made quite a few makes an attempt to attempt to diversify its picture amid plummeting gross sales – and in November 2019, it introduced that it had canceled its vogue present following years of backlash over the ‘sexist, outdated’ occasion. 

Then earlier this month, the lingerie large unveiled a ‘numerous’ new line-up of spokeswomen – together with Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Megan Rapinoe – who will substitute its notorious Angels and can promote Victoria’s Secret not by posing in underwear however as an alternative by ‘showing on a podcast and in advertising and marketing supplies’.  

Priyanka and Megan will reportedly be a part of Sudanese-Australian mannequin Adut Akech, freestyle skier Eileen Gu, Brazilian transgender mannequin Valentina Sampaio, plus-size mannequin Paloma Elsesser, and journalist Amanda de Cadenet, who is about to host a 10-episode podcast the place the ladies will share their tales. 

Historically, the model has been promoted by a roster of high-profile supermodels, with these below contract to the corporate referred to as Victoria’s Secret ‘Angels’. 

She now focuses on selling a wholesome physique picture, revealing earlier this 12 months how going sober helped her to really feel ‘happier, extra constructive, fitter, and extra optimistic’

Requested whether or not the Angels would make a comeback within the relaunch, model chief govt Martin Waters stated: ‘Proper now, I do not see it as being culturally related.’ 

Waters, who was appointed chief govt in February after serving as head of Victoria’s Secret’s worldwide enterprise, informed the New York Occasions that the model ‘wanted to cease being about what males need and to be about what ladies need.’ 

He added: ‘I’ve identified that we wanted to vary this model for a very long time, we simply have not had the management of the corporate to have the ability to do it.’ 

Former chief govt Cynthia Fedus-Fields added that though it was ‘in all probability time for the Angels to go’ the model needed to discover a approach to ‘transfer ahead whereas sustaining current clients.’

She continued: ‘If it was a $7billion enterprise pre-COVID, and far of that $7billion was constructed on this blatant horny strategy, watch out with what you’re doing’.

Bridget has been extremely outspoken in her criticism of Victoria’s Secret in recent times, revealing in a sequence of TikTok movies posted earlier this month that she confronted huge strain from the model to ‘get skinnier’. 

‘There was this tradition that was created that was like, for those who simply keep, for those who get a bit skinnier, for those who hold doing what we would like you to do, you are going to be an Angel and you are going to be world well-known and it’ll be wonderful,’ she stated. 

‘And I used to be a child, I used to be younger and I hadn’t developed a full sense of identification at that time, and so I believed it, and I used to be like, I would like this. I’d be silly if I did not take advantage of this chance,’ she went on.

‘So I stayed. I as soon as had one of many high photographers from Victoria’s Secret say for those who received skinnier you’ll change into an Angel. And I assumed nice I’m so shut. However the actuality was nothing was ever sufficient as a result of it is the patriarchy, sorry.’