Hunger suppressants, hormone injections: Victoria's secret mannequins testify to pressure to lose weight
On the microphone of the fallen Angel podcast, literally "fallen Angels", Erin Heatherton, ex-Victoria 's secret model between 2010 and 2013, shared her experience with the American lingerie giant. She says she has used hunger suppressants to reduce her appetite. She went on to say that a "star nutritionist", whom she had contacted herself, had prescribed hormone injections that were supposed to cause her to lose weight.
In the interest of an ever more perfect body, the 32-year-old top confesses that he was ready to do anything to keep this golden contract, so coveted in the modeling industry at the time. Ten years later, she accuses the claw of putting the health of models in the background.
Not the only one
If Erin Heatherton accuses Victoria's secret in her testimony, she's not the only one. Many other "angels" share their experiences, all of which are equally unhealthy. Australian model Bridget Malcolm, who won the brand between 2015 and 2016, posted a video on TikTok last July in which she explained that she found a bra from the 2016 show, size 30A (equivalent to an 80A in French size). The next year, she was a 30B. She says she was then pushed out of the 2017 parade by Edward Razek, the brand's marketing director, because her body was "not beautiful".
Selita Ebanks, model for the lingerie claw between 2005 and 2008, confided this week to channel E!: "you have to manage to maintain a perfect size, which is unnatural because you can't fight against something that has to happen inexorably."?
To listen to: the podcast of the editorial board
New strategy, new start?
The brand, which has been accused for a few years of promoting bodies that are too perfect, revises its entire communication strategy and has put an end to its parades for the past two years. Exit Les physiques de dolls Barbie place for a more committed casting, with different morphologies and ages, embodied in a "collective VS" that includes transgender model Valentina Sampaio, footballer LGBTQ + Megan Rapinoe or British top Paloma Elsesser, with a size 48. It remains to be seen whether this new inclusive project will be enough to make us forget years of drifts.
