TOTAL RECALL: Musician says, ‘She told me right away . . . ‘Terry did this to me’ ”
Pal: Model told me of photog’s sick sex attack
FORMER MUSICIAN Chris Gramling said Friday he vividly recalls model Caron Bernstein describing her alleged sexual assault at the hands of photographer Terry Richardson in 2003.
He was the guitarist in Bernstein’s band C at the time, and said she reported it to him immediately.
“She told me right away, within 24 hours. She was like, ‘Terry did this to me.’ She was sobbing,” said Gramling, now a business owner in Nashville.
“I remember it as clear as day. It had a profound impact on me,” he said, adding that he hadn’t spoken to Bernstein in about a year when he learned Thursday that she went public with her account in the Daily News.
Gramling, 45, said he felt compelled to reach out to The News and share his memory of her reaction.
“She said he had her in a room and she agreed to pose topless. She said it was almost like he was hiding behind some camera apparatus for a little while (masturbating), and then he came rushing toward her, closing the distance very quickly,” Gramling said.
According to Bernstein, Richardson exposed himself and forced himself into her mouth in a stunning ambush. A lawyer for Richardson said any sexual interaction was consensual.
Gramling said Bernstein was “absolutely distraught” in the hours that followed.
“I remember she was so focused on how he handed her a towel and told her to clean herself up. That just stuck with me,” he said. “She said, ‘He treated me like I was just this dirty thing.’ ”
Gramling said he urged Bernstein to report the alleged attack, but she was too frightened. “She was terrified. She didn’t want it to hurt her career or the band,” he said. “Everyone knew who Terry was. He had a big name.”
Gramling decided not to push her, he said. “I didn’t want to out Caron,” he said. “She was humiliated by it.”
Richardson’s lawyer Brad Rose said his client did nothing wrong. “Ms. Bernstein knowingly and willingly posed for these photographs and at all times prior to and during the shoot, any contact she had with Mr. Richardson was consensual,” Rose told The News.
Bernstein, 47, called it “ludicrous” to suggest she willingly agreed to perform oral sex on Richardson. “I would never walk in somewhere and agree to a sex act with a stranger. I’ve never done that in my entire life. Never in a million years,” she told The News.
Richardson shot to fame with his hyper-sexual aesthetic and took iconic images of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus and former President Barack Obama before major publications and designers started distancing themselves from the lurid lensman amid reports he was a sex predator.