America’s Top Model winner Eva Marcille said she was “surprisingly horrified” by the shocking Netflix documentary series about the show. This is because he had “no idea” that such a “horrible” act had taken place on the show.
The Cycle 3 winner, who appeared on the show under her maiden name Eva Pigford in 2004, admitted she was “appalled” after watching the three-part series Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.
“I was in awe…my mouth was wide open. It’s crazy to be part of a club and not know what’s going on inside the club,” Marcil said on Thursday’s CBS Morning.
“I’ve lived my experience. I’ve walked in my shoes,” she continued. “And you have a certain level of empathy when you think someone has walked in the same shoes, but I didn’t know that.”
The reality star, who later joined “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” “absolutely” believes producers of “ANTM” were aware of all the alleged misconduct that occurred over the course of the show, including bullying allegations, body shaming and racial profiling. And sometimes even believe that they fed them.
“That environment could not exist without producers aiding and abetting what was happening,” she said. “I’ve done reality on every level now. ‘Housewives.’ I mean, you don’t know what’s going on in a person’s life unless the producer tells you. That’s part of how this thing works. ”
Despite all the allegations made specifically against the show’s creator and host, Tyra Banks, Marcille was grateful and defended her.
“What Tyra was trying to do in this industry, and I always like to say, especially when it came to ‘Top Model’ in the beginning, was to change the world. Change the way the modeling industry looked, sounded, felt, and expected. And she did that for me.”
She also admitted that while the supermodel has apologized “a million times” for her actions on the show, the contestants she hurt don’t have to forgive her.
“For young girls who have been sexually assaulted, who are now suffering from eating disorders, or who have never looked at themselves and felt beautiful, that little girl inside them lives on in the woman that they are. I don’t think there’s anything that’s unfortunate enough to really feel that kind of hurt and heal it.”
Lisa D’Amato, one of the “ANTM” contestants who has been extremely outspoken about Banks’ abuse allegations, exclusively told Page Six that the TV host only took part in the documentary to “save face” and not to take responsibility.
“Tyra is all about making money. She has no real empathy for anyone but herself,” she claimed earlier this month.
The Cycle 5 contestant and Cycle 17: All Stars winner has long accused Banks and developer Ken Mok of exploiting the “horrific” childhood trauma “inflicted” on her by her mother for a more dramatic and successful show.
She even claimed that during Cycle 5, Mok refused her off-camera request to “stop exploiting her childhood trauma behind the scenes”, resulting in her “crazy villain” edit.
Another ANTM alum, Tiffany Richardson, slammed Banks on social media after the documentary series premiered, calling her a “bully” and a “lying bitch.”
The Cycle 4 contestant and Banks had an infamous fight on the show, and while Richardson claims Banks still has no regrets, the actress admitted in the documentary that she took the argument “too far.”
“Do you know how you treated me all this time off and in front of the camera, you were a bully!!!” Richardson claimed. “You treated me badly and said the worst things about me and my son.”
Richardson also claimed that producers “edited” the heated exchange to make it seem like Banks “cared” about her.
