"I Was Displayed in My Undergarments Alongside 20 Other Girls for Jimmy Savile—It Took Years to Uncover the Disturbing Truth"

WALKING into the apartment of a world-famous French fashion designer, size 4 model Jo Skinner had a tape measure thrust around her hips.

At 5ft 10ins tall, and weighing just over 8st, Jo was nothing but skin and bones. But the designer tutted as he measured her – then said she had to lose two inches from her waist.

Jo Skinner is speaking out about her own experiences modelling, after the release of a Netflix documentary about America’s Next Top ModelCredit: Matt Leach Supermodel and ANTM host Tyra Banks acknowledges in the show that she ‘went too far’, but in has come under fire for not being sorry enoughCredit: Netflix Jo modelling underwear at age 20

Only 18 at the time, Jo told him it was impossible to lose any more weight. So he sent her away, telling Jo she was too fat to walk in his show.

Jo modelled from the age of 17 after being scouted on the metro in , where she was working as a dancer at the Moulin Rouge.

She describes the fashion industry as brutal in the Nineties, saying models barely ate and many were victims of sexual harassment.

Mum-of-two Jo, now 61, is speaking out after the release of the ‘’.

The show looks at what young girls were put through in the name of beauty. Some wept as their long locks were chopped into a buzz cut. One contestant had four teeth pulled out and one girl had a tooth gap put in.

Supermodel and show host acknowledges in the show that she “went too far” in some instances. But she has come under fire for not being sorry enough. Instead, she tries to blame viewers, saying: “The audience wanted more and more.”

Ex-model was particularly hard on contestants, and whilst she doesn’t appear in the new documentary, it does give a medley of her critiques: ‘She looks kind of like a child prostitute’, ‘Fat? She’s huge!’ and ‘This is the worst photograph I’ve ever seen. You look deranged, your arms look amputated, your legs look amputated, and kit looks like you have penis.”

Just like the girls on the documentary, Jo was often called fat – but it was that famous fashion designer’s tape measure that stuck in her mind.

“I was nervous as I walked up the rickety old stairs to his apartment in to try on some clothes,” recalls Jo, from Dartford, .

“It was a small building. I’d never have thought a top fashion designer lived there. But I went in.

“Straight away, he thrust the tape measure around my waist. I was only 18 at the time. I’d already modelled for Yves Saint Laurent and the clothes hung off me. But for this brand, I was too fat.”

In the Netflix documentary, we are reminded of series two, when girls were flown to Milan for a boozy night in their apartment with a bunch of male models.

Shandi Sullivan, then 21, drank two bottles of and was clearly incapacitated as one of the men made a move on her. No one did anything to stop it, and it was all filmed.

Jo says sexual harassment was commonplace in the modelling world – and wasn’t unique to the TV show.

She once turned up to shoot a glossy women’s monthly magazine cover, but after the female art director made a pass at her – and she refused – she was sent home.

‘Very wronged’

“I was sitting in the chair when she came in and started rubbing my back,” Jo says.

“Then when the make-up artist went to make a cup of tea, she came back. She was stroking my arm and said something very suggestive. I told her, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m straight’. She stormed out in a rage, called my agent and had the shoot called off.

“She told him I looked nothing like my pictures. I was furious, but there was little I could do. My agent said I had to go, so I packed my bags and left.”

We stood in front of him in knickers and vests. We lined up, turned around and he walked up and down the line. That was it. There was no job

Jo Skinner, on a casting for Jimmy Savile

On another shoot in the Sahara, a married art director allegedly propositioned a make-up artist and threatened her career when she refused. “He was a big name,” Jo says. “She was hysterical. I never saw her again after that job.”

Jo even recalls being called to a casting for with around 20 other models.

“We stood in front of him in knickers and vests,” says Jo.

“We lined up, turned around and he walked up and down the line. That was it. There was no job. That sort of thing was commonplace.

Jo says she lived on coffee and cigarettes to maintain a tiny sizeCredit: Matt Leach Ex-model Janice Dickinson, who doesn’t feature in the Netflix show, was particularly hard on contestantsCredit: UPN Jo was called to a casting for Jimmy Savile with around 20 other models, who all stood in front of him in just knickers and vestsCredit: Getty

“I didn’t think anything of it at the time. We’d all been to stage school and wanted to be on his show.

“I was used to standing in front of casting directors with not much on and I danced. But then when he hit the headlines, I thought ‘wow’.

“It wasn’t right. Looking back on it makes me feel very wronged. It shouldn’t have happened, but it was normal at that time.”

Jo says she and her model pals would buy laxatives to help shed extra pounds.

“They might help you to lose a pound or two so you were picked to wear the best outfit,” Jo says.

We were forever being measured and the sample clothes were tiny. I survived on coffee and cigarettes

Jo Skinner

“We loved going to the States as you could buy diet pills over the counter. They’d take your appetite away so you never felt hungry. They also made you moody and aggressive as hell.

“You couldn’t , your heart was racing. But we all knew what we were doing, we all wanted that next job. You could tell who had been taking them.”

“Some models would go to bed at 6pm and all they’d eaten all day was two boiled eggs. They didn’t want to stay awake in case they got hungry and ate something. We were all exhausted as we weren’t fuelling our bodies properly. ‘Eating’s cheating’ was the motto.

“We were forever being measured and the sample clothes were tiny. I survived on and cigarettes.

‘Vain industry’

“I was only just over 8-stone but I did have slightly wider hips. There was no flesh on them but they’d always say ‘Jo’s too big’. I always felt awful afterwards and wouldn’t eat.”

In her 30s, Jo was sacked by a shopping channel for being overweight and at one job after , Jo recalls trying to squeeze into a pair of jeans for a High Street chain.

“I was a size 4 but I couldn’t get them on,” Jo says. “When I came back out to show the client, the director just said ‘Don’t worry about Jo, she’s been eating like a pig over Christmas. Look how fat her a*se is.

“I was embarrassed and went bright red. Then he said he found it sexy when a model goes red. He continued to say the clothes looked bad on me as I’d put on too much weight.”

Verbal humiliation was routine too, from choreographers screaming in her face to photographers barely acknowledging her existence.

If you want to go on that TV show or get into modelling, you’ll need a thick skin

Jo Skinner, on shows like ANTM

Jo continued modelling until the age of 32, but did face some ageist comments in later 20s. She says she struggled with her as she went from couture catwalk shows to posing up as mother-of-the-bride in bridal magazines.

“Aged 27 I turned up for a commercial and was told I was too old, even though they’d seen my portfolio and asked for me,” Jo recalls. “As soon as I arrived they asked my age and said they wanted someone around 24. When I told my agent, he said I should have lied and said 20.”

She continues: “Models are safer today. They have more of a voice. We would never have walked a single show if we complained.

“If girls want to get into modelling now, they should trust your gut instinct. Only do what feels right.”

Whilst her experiences are brutal, Jo says the contestants on shows like ANTM should expect to have their look overhauled.

“As a model you are a canvas,” she says.

“You don’t have a choice and you don’t have a voice. If they want to cut your hair and think it’s great for your look, that is great. They are the experts, they know what works.

“Don’t cry about it. This is what you signed up for. If you want to go on that TV show or get into modelling, you’ll need a thick skin. Yes, lots has changed. Plus size-models are so needed and that has been a huge step forward.

“But it’s still a vain industry based on appearances. If you can’t stand the heat, get off the catwalk.”

Jo says sexual harassment was commonplace in the modelling worldCredit: Matt Leach