"I know this difficult decision to tell her story is to empower others in similar situations" - Throwback to when MLB All-Star Justin Verlander lauded his wife Kate Upton for calling out alleged sexual assault
In February 2018, Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander took to Twitter to praise his wife, Kate Upton, for calling out the man who sexually assaulted her. The accused is 'Guess' Co-Founder Paul Marciano. The incident happened when Kate was just 18 years old. She opened up about it twelve years later.
Kate took to Twitter in February 2018 and wrote:
"It’s disappointing that such an iconic women’s brand GUESS is still empowering Paul Marciano as their creative director."
It’s disappointing that such an iconic women’s brand @GUESS is still empowering Paul Marciano as their creative director #metoo
Further, in an interview with "TIME," Kate Upton chose to spill the beans about Marciano's behavior. She said:
"After the first day of shooting the Guess Lingerie campaign [on July 25, 2010], Paul Marciano said he wanted to meet with me. As soon as I walked in with photographer Yu Tsai, Paul came straight up to me, forcibly grabbed my breasts and started feeling them — playing with them actually. After I pushed him away, he said, “I’m making sure they’re real.”
"Despite doing everything I could physically do to avoid his touch throughout the meeting, he continued to touch me in a very dominating and aggressive way, grabbing my thighs, my arms to pull me closer, my shoulders to pull me closer, my neck, my breasts, and smelling me."
Kate added:
"The next Guess shoot I worked on was about a month later. As soon as I went up to my hotel room, Paul started calling me asking to come up and see how my room is. I politely declined several times."
"He continued to insist. He said he was already in the hotel lobby. He even called my room from the hotel lobby desk. After several denials, I just turned off my phone and locked the door and tried to get some sleep. I was terrified. All I could think was if he was able to get into my room it would not be good."
"The next day, I learned that I had been fired from the shoot. Someone had called my agency to say I had gotten fat and would not be needed on set [that day]."
After Kate's interview with Time hit the press, Justin Verlander stood up for his wife on Twitter.
Justin tweeted:
"Couldn't be more proud of Kate Upton. I know this difficult decision to tell her story is to empower others in similar situations, and also to encourage those who witness this behavior to speak out to create change."
Couldn't be more proud of @KateUpton. I know this difficult decision to tell her story is to empower others in similar situations, and also to encourage those who witness this behavior to speak out to create change. THAT is what the #MeToo movement is all about! #ThankYouKate
After getting fired from the modeling campaign with Guess in 2011, Kate Upton shot to stardom with her celebrated Sports Illustrated cover.
Guess Jeans offered Kate Upton a lot of money in 2012
In her TIME interview, Kate Upton also mentioned that Guess Jeans made her a staggering $400,000 offer in 2012. This came when her popularity skyrocketed after working with Sports Illustrated.
"I went on to be extremely successful because of my Sports Illustrated cover. Guess Jeans reached out to my agency and offered me their campaign again in 2012."
"Typically, Guess pays well below industry standards since they like to say they like to launch young models’ careers. But for this campaign, they offered me $400,000, which at the time was their highest paying offer ever."
She opted to reject the offer due to the Paul Marciano's past misconduct.
"I remember I had an internal struggle over this offer. I was hoping after my consistent denials and successful career, that Paul would treat me with professionalism."
"But as we got closer to the shoot date, Paul began texting that he would make sure to be on set. He told me that I wasn’t allowed to bring my boyfriend. I just couldn’t do it. I refused the campaign. I couldn’t accept the money. I walked away about a week before the shoot was scheduled."
In Kate Upton's opinion, the modeling industry has to change how they handle sexual assault allegations. Everyone is aware of the perpetrators, but few have the courage to call them out publicly.
The time for that ends now.