Photo Credit: Naomi Campbell/Youtube
With the imprisonment and subsequent suicide of billionaire and serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Naomi Campbell felt the need to share her story about Epstein along with what she knew and when she knew it. The confession, shared on Youtube came after The Daily Mail questioned her ties with Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and a “hair-raising cast of characters” with “dubious and in some cases bloodthirsty reputations.” Now that’s some strong wording right there.
Regarding her relationship with him, she said “Yes, I knew him. I was introduced to him on my 31st birthday by my ex-boyfriend Flavio (Briatore). He was always front and center at Victoria’s Secret fashion shows.” She did say that they didn’t have any type of a close relationship stating he was one of “hundreds of thousands of people that I’ve stood next to to take a picture.” She went on to express her disdain for his actions and how terrible it all made her feel. “What he’s done is indefensible,” she said. “When I heard what he had done, it sickened me to my stomach, just like everybody else, because I’ve had my fair share of sexual predators and thank God I had good people around who protected me from this.”
“I stand with the victims. … They’re scarred for life. For life,” she told the camera. As for this little hit piece the Daily Mail did on her, she called it “direct character assassination.” It also came at a time when she’s being rewarded for her philanthropic work in fashion through her charity Fashion for Relief by The British Fashion Council in December. “I’m not going to stop,” she said. “And I won’t be undermined or have my team be undermined for all the wonderful and great work.” She finished the video saying, “The frightening conclusion here is that if the negative action of your neighbor, colleague or even an associate can somehow make you guilty, too, simply by association, then we indeed live in very worrying times. This affects us all. It’s wrong, it’s unfair and it must be stopped.”
One disturbing trend about these incidents is that as time goes on after these cases become public, journalists tend to dig up every person the abusers knew and immediately make the claim that they had to know something. And I know that has to be a terrible situation to be in, being accused of covering for a sexual predator. Naomi Campbell may be many things and she might have a reputation of being a b*tch but that’s quite an unfair accusation to make against her and being upset about the insinuation is understandable. The victims have our prayers and we hope the investigations help bring them all justice.
