Ad

Kate Upton details sexual misconduct allegations against Guess co-founder Paul Marciano

The model has claimed that Paul groped her and called her a "fat pig"

Kate Upton has detailed how Guess co-founder Paul Marciano harassed her in a new interview.

The model took aim at the brand’s co-founder in a social media post last week, which read, “It’s disappointing that such an iconic women’s brand @Guess is still empowering Paul Marciano as their creative director #metoo.”

“He shouldn’t be allowed to use his power in the industry to sexually and emotionally harass women #metoo.”

In a new interview with TIME magazine, the 25-year-old claimed that Paul began harassing her during her first professional modelling campaign with Guess when she was just 18. Photographer Yu Tsai has said that he witnessed the event.

Thank you @time and @edockterman for letting me tell my story #MeToo #TimesUp

A post shared by Kate Upton (@kateupton) on


“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,'” Kate explained.

“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. He then told Yu Tsai to leave us alone.”

A month later, Kate was booked for another Guess shoot, and Paul called her asking to see her hotel room, which she declined multiple times.

A post shared by Kate Upton (@kateupton) on

“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],” Kate claimed. “I was devastated, especially because at this point no one from Guess had even seen me.”

The stunning model continued to work with Guess, but has said that she and Tsai made sure that she was never alone with Paul.

Speaking about her final time working for the brand, Kate said, “I had a final shoot [in May of 2011], and he was outwardly rude and degrading the entire time.”

“He said I was ‘disgusting’ and started telling people how unprofessional I was by spreading rumors that I was drunk on set and partying every night, which of course I wasn’t. I was then told to leave because Paul had said, ‘Get that fat pig off my set.'”

A post shared by Kate Upton (@kateupton) on


Then in 2012, Kate was offered a campaign with Guess for more money than they had ever paid her, but she walked away from project one week before the shoot was scheduled.

Paul Marciano has denied all allegations of sexual harassment, and in a statement to Time, he said Kate’s accusations are “absolutely false” and “preposterous.”

“I have never been alone with Kate Upton. I have never touched her inappropriately. Nor would I ever refer to a Guess model in such a derogatory manner,” he said.

A post shared by Kate Upton (@kateupton) on

“I fully support the #metoo movement. At the same time, I will not allow others to defame me and tarnish my reputation. I have pledged to Guess and its Board of Directors my full support and cooperation with a fair and impartial investigation.”

When asked why she came forward, Kate said, “Paul used his power to make me feel insecure and powerless, but I’m not going to let him intimidate me anymore. These men think they are untouchable, but times are changing.”

Speaking to TMZ, Paul alleged that Kate used to arrive on set after late nights “looking terrible”, and claimed that Kate is doing this to get revenge because the brand severed ties with her.

Check out all of today’s hottest stories on the daily Goss;

Ad