‘I HEARD HIM BOLT THE BASEMENT DOOR AND I PANICKED’

Alison Canavan, international model and wellness expert

I’ VE been modelling since I was 15 and I’ve had a lot of inappropriate moments. It was almost seen as a given in my industry. Lots of photographers down through the years make inappropriate or suggestive comments.

By far the worst happened when I was only 20 years old. I was in France, and all day while I was working with this guy I had a bad feeling in my stomach. He kept coming over to get me to adjust my position and he would move me with his hands and I was thinking, “OK you can just tell me, you don’t need to touch me”, and he kept saying inappropriate things while he was taking the photos. Telling me I was really sexy, making comments like “do that smile again because it makes me want to jump into bed with you”. For the last few shots we went back to the basement of his house.

The make-up artist had been with us all day and he turned to her and told her she didn’t need to hang around, that she could go home. People always think I’m very vocal but I just remember going quiet, I didn’t say a word, I just froze. When she was gone, I’ll never forget hearing him go up and bolt the basement door. I panicked. I just kept saying to him: “I want to go home, I want to go home, you have to let me out of here.” I rang my dad straight away and he got me on the first flight home.

Over the years, I’ve had plenty of inappropriate comments said to me at swimwear shoots, too. If you complained about it you would just be told “that’s just the way he is” and “get on with the job”. In the early days there was an attitude that “anything goes”. There was no social media, no accountability. If girls complained to an agent they would be told to keep quiet.

There were photographers abroad who everyone knew as creepy. Some of them were a running joke among the girls. Things are finally changing and it’s time for women to speak up. In the past if you said anything it would alienate you and probably affect your work.

But the world is moving on. Women just aren’t putting up with that sh*t anymore.