Was Donald Trump banned from 1993 Victoria's Secret photoshoot at Mar-a-Lago?
On October 8, 2024, Macmillan Publishers published Selling Sexy: Victoria's Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon, revealing Donald Trump's past links with the brand.
The book illuminates the controversial ties between Victoria's Secret and businessmen like Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. One incident reveals that the presidential candidate was once banned from a photo shoot conducted by the brand at his Palm Beach country club, Mar-a-Lago, in 1993.
Lauren Sherman and Chantal Fernandez co-wrote the nonfiction book, which tells the story of the rise and fall of Victoria's Secret. This lingerie brand had an unbelievable influence on the psyche of a generation of American consumers.
Within less than a month of its release, Selling Sexy has already earned an annual sales of over $6 billion.
Frederique van der Wal proposed Donald Trump's ban
According to the revelations made in Selling Sexy, Frederique van der Wal, a Dutch model at Victoria's Secret, would be featured in the Mar-a-Lago photo shoot and wanted to pose semi-naked for the same.
Frederique had known Donald Trump socially and didn't want him to be around during the one-day shoot. The book quoted her saying:
"I said the only thing is, you have to sign a contract that you can't come [to watch the shoot]"
As a result, the Mar-a-Lago shoot was conducted "without Trump lingering around," the book said.
Van der Wal's comment in Selling Sexy suggests that Donald Trump appeared to be interested in models back then. Beyond the book, several models have complained about Trump's behavior throughout the years, as reported in the Daily Mail.
One such complaint came in 2016 when Tasha Dixon, the former Miss Arizona, revealed that the businessman would often enter the models' dressing room unannounced in the 2001 Miss USA Beauty Pageants. Dixon added:
"He just came strolling right in... There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Others girls were naked."
The news outlet also stated that Donald Trump himself has also corroborated this revelation, saying he was:
"allowed to go in, because I'm the owner of the pageant, and therefore I'm inspecting it... You see these incredible-looking women, and so I sort of get away with things like that."
The book also disclosed the close ties between Wexner and Epstein
Elsewhere in the book, Sherman and Fernandez have also shed light on the relationship between the s** offender Jeffrey Epstein and Les Wexner, the former CEO of Victoria's Secret's parent company, L Brands.
According to the book, Epstein strongly influenced Wexner, who had granted the financier his power of attorney within a few years of knowing each other in 1991. A former executive of the company told the authors:
"It just makes no sense why (Wexner) did any of that, to allow Epstein to manage all his money... It was baffling. Everyone thought Les was such a retail genius, then he did this. It was so bizarre."
The book states that even Wexner's mother, Bella, found the motive and basis of his friendship with Jeffrey unfathomable. It also claims that Wexner had once shared with a friend that much of his wealth had been created by Epstein.
With the presidential elections less than a month away, the revelations made about Donald Trump in Selling Sexy will likely create a divide in the hearts of his prospective voters across the US. Whether or not it affects the results of the elections remains to be seen.