Ashley Graham Shares Her Own Terrifying #MeToo Moment As A Teen Model

Plus-sized model Ashley Graham sat down with the ladies of The View on Tuesday, where the topic of conversation turned to photographer Terry Richardson, who is currently under investigation by the NYPD for allegedly forcing himself on model Caron Bernstein. Although Graham said that she personally had never experienced slimy behavior while working with Richardson, she too, had a story to tell. Because all women do.

Graham said that as a teen model at the start of her career, she often traveled alone for work without parental supervision, which she didn’t think was so much of a big deal being that she was already living on her own in New York City at the time. While shooting a big campaign however, a photo assistant pulled her aside and told her he wanted to talk to her.

“And he lured me into this hallway, pushed me into a closet,” she described of the incident. “He exposed himself and he said, look at what you did to me all day long, now touch it.”

At that point Graham freaked out bolted from the closet, but even worse, she was terrified of anyone finding out lest she be ostracized as being “difficult.” Had she known what she knows now, Graham said that she would smacked the guy and called him a pedophile — being that she was 17 at the time. “I probably would have just started screaming, I would have called my agency, who knows what would have happened,” she continued.

At any rate, Graham went on to attribute this new attitude to the #MeToo movement, and evidence that it actually is having a positive effect across the board.

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