You might recognize him by his signature look that consists of a plaid shirt, trademark aviator glasses, and thumbs up. If not, you’ll definitely recognize his photographs. American A-List fashion photographer, Terry Richardson, is known for photographing models, musicians, and high profile-celebrities against a white background. He’s often poses with them and gives them his glasses to wear. He’s shot campaigns for big name designers and done work for some of the top magazines out there. Richardson is certainly a successful, iconic photographer and a well-known name in the industry. The only problem is that Richardson is quickly becoming as well known for creepy allegations and complete inappropriateness during photo-shoots, as he is his photography.
Most recently, Lindsay Lohan stirred up a bit of scandal after posing for the photographer following his recent allegations. Even Kim Kardashian, who has posed for him before, supposedly passed up a cover on Harper’s Bazaar because Richardson was going to photograph it. Terry Richardson’s photographs are almost always sexual and controversial, as that’s just his style (he directed Miley’s “Wrecking Ball” video if that explains anything), but it seems that he has been taking things way too far. It’s no secret that he’s been accused of sexual assault many times. A handful of fashion models have come out about their experiences with him, anonymously and not, and what they have shared may leave you very disturbed. Danish model, Rie Rasmussen said, “he takes girls who are young, manipulates them to take their clothes off, and takes pictures of them they will be ashamed of. They are too afraid to say no because their agency booked them on the job and are too young to stand up for themselves.” Richardson has allegedly done everything, from getting naked himself and making young models perform numerous sexual acts on him, to making young models who couldn’t even speak English perform sexual acts on each other. If you simply Google “Terry Richardson accusations,” there are almost 300,000 results.
The sad thing is that for every model or celebrity who refuses to work for the creepy Terry Richardson, there’s another lining up in her place, since he really is a legend in the industry. And in the words of Richardson himself, to climb up in the industry, “it’s not who you know, it’s who you blow.”