Model discloses sexual assault
BRITAIN: The model Penny Lancaster has revealed that she was sexually assaulted while a virgin as she started out in the fashion industry.
Lancaster, 46, who is married to Sir Rod Stewart, said that a fashion designer spiked her drink when she went to his flat before a modelling job as a teenager. Speaking on ITV’s Loose Women, she broke down in tears as she described passing out and waking up to find a man lying on top of her.
Many women have spoken about their experiences of sexual assault after the string of allegations against Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
‘‘I can’t remember much of what happened, I just know he was on top of me and enjoying the experience but I certainly wasn’t,’’ she said.
Lancaster compared her experience to that of a victim in the television series Liar where a woman is accused of lying about being raped until it becomes clear that her drink was spiked.
She told ITV she had gone to the man’s home after he promised to introduce her to leading figures in the modelling industry. While there, he poured her a drink before going to collect his things for the event, she said.
‘‘And unfortunately the next thing I knew I found myself face down on a bed with him on top of me. I couldn’t tell my mum and dad because I thought they would be saying to me, ‘What on earth were you doing going back to his house’. But he was a guy that I had worked with and he promised me to meet other people and so I was naive and I trusted him. I had never had sex at that point so it was a frightening thing. You try to pretend it never happened. I was too afraid to tell anybody.’’
She urged mothers to support their daughters if they learnt they had been through a similar ordeal.
‘‘If your daughter is able to come and talk to you about it, they have to know they won’t be told off. It’s not their fault, they’re not guilty, the other person is. As a woman, god forbid any man tries it on with me now as an adult, trust me. But as a child you don’t have the tools for it. I don’t want to make my children frightened, I just want to make them aware, let them know they should come to you if anybody touches you.’’