A former Victoria’s Secret model says agencies told her to use cocaine and ‘have lots of sex’ to lose weight while she was underage
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Bridget Malcolm formerly modeled for Victoria’s Secret. Jim Spellman/Getty Images
Bridget Malcolm said she was told to do cocaine and “have lots of sex” to lose weight as a minor.
She also said she developed severe anxiety, anorexia, PTSD, and more as a result.
The former Victoria’s Secret model is now in recovery, and pushing for change in the industry.
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Former Victoria’s Secret model Bridget Malcolm recently opened up being encouraged by her modeling agencies to lose weight as a minor.
In a video posted to Instagram on Saturday, Malcolm addressed commenters who asked why she’s just now speaking out about negative experiences she had while working in the fashion industry in the past.
She shared that she’s spent recent years working on recovering from those experiences, and is finally feeling happy, balanced, and strong enough to speak. “I feel the best I’ve ever felt,” she said in her video.
“By the age of 18, I’d lived in three countries alone. I traveled to all continents except Antarctica. I’ve been groomed by a much older man. I’ve been sexually assaulted multiple times. I’ve been told to do cocaine to lose weight by my agent, been told weekly, and have been under a lot of pressure to lose weight by my agencies,” Malcolm said.
Later in her video, the model added that she was also told by modeling agencies “to just have lots of sex to lose weight.” She said that she was underage during all of those experiences, and was struggling with her gender identity at the time.
Malcolm said she went on to develop PTSD, anorexia, orthorexia, anxiety, and depression, and eventually “couldn’t socialize without drinking.” She then said that she was “developing quite the reliance on Xanax and Ambien” at one point.
Malcolm also said in her video that after having a “nervous breakdown” on her 26th birthday, she couldn’t leave her home for a year without experiencing “severe anxiety” and panic attacks.
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“I also had a bout with suicidal ideation, which was terrifying, and that was four years ago,” she said.
Bridget Malcolm walked in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2015 and 2016. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Malcolm said she’s now able to speak about her experiences because she’s more than two years sober, and four years into recovery for her eating disorders.
“The reality is I couldn’t talk about my experiences before I reached this place because I would have intense PTSD flashbacks, I would have panic attacks, and I wouldn’t be OK,” she said. “But I am OK now, and that’s why I’m speaking out. I am in solid recovery, and I’m strong enough for any backlash, and I wasn’t before this.”
Malcolm said that the “only reason” she chose to share her story is because she’s a “strong believer that the fashion industry needs to change.”
“I’m one of the lucky models – I was able to make a long career out of the fashion industry,” she said. “But my job should not include abuse, and that is why I’m speaking up now.”
Earlier this month, Malcolm criticized her former employer Victoria’s Secret on TikTok.
She shared that she wore a size 30A bra in the 2016 fashion show, and that it was big on her at the time. Now, according to Malcolm, she’s a “healthy” size 34B. She also said former Victoria’s Secret chief marketing officer Ed Razek rejected her from the 2017 show because he said her body “did not look good enough.”
She then labeled the brand’s recent decision to replace its cast of Angels with a diverse group of ambassadors as “performative allyship.”
Representatives for Bridget Malcolm declined to comment on this story.
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