Uncle Terry is Under Fire Again

Many are the accusations leveled against photographer Terry Richardson, but it's rare to find someone who will go on record against him — especially working models, whose careers could be ruined if they speak out against such a powerful industry figure.

But former models don't have callbacks and runway gigs to lose.

After an anonymous former model posted a (now deleted) Reddit thread detailing her experiences Terry Richardson, the thread went viral and the former model, after spotting a Vocativ article titled The Terry Richardson Timeline of Skeez, decided to go public with her accusations. In an exclusive interview with Vocativ, she reveals her name (Charlotte Waters), her face, and what happened to her in Terry's studio. It's a brave, brave move on Waters' part. But will it change a thing?

For those who've been following Terry Richardson's history of skeez, Waters' claims will sound very, very familiar: An extremely young, inexperienced model (Waters was 19) is excited to shoot with famed photog Richards. She gets to the studio, and immediately notices the strange vibes ("He and his assistant were both complimenting [me] a lot... it was obviously Richardson’s effort to make this little 19-year-old girl feel like she is this amazing, special person"). What is supposed to be a professional nude photo shoot digresses into Richards dropping his pants and making explicitly sexual demands; the model is too afraid to refuse. His assistant watches, helps out, appears totally comfortable with the whole thing ("It seemed like they had done this a million times"). Read the specifics of Waters' story here — warning, not for the faint of heart.

Waters has reported the incident to the NYPD, but she's not pressing charges. And an NYPD detective told her it "wasn’t a crime situation because [she] never said no." So since the law isn't going to do anything about Uncle Terry, the situation remains the same as it has been for years: those who believe and support Waters must sit back and wait for the fashion industry to finally turn their backs on Richardson.

The last time we wrote about Terry Richardson, it was concerning a Change.org petition that demanded the fashion industry stop hiring him. Since then, he's hung out with Lupita Nyong’o and Jared Leto and photographed Kate Moss and Lady Gaga. Terry Richardson has been having a grand old time. While the allegations keep piling up against him, he really does appear to be untouchable.

And he's still looking for 18+ "nude or topless" models on his website.