A Brief History of Terry Richardson Being the Absolute Worst

Image via Complex Original

Year: 2001

Canadian model Liskula Cohen walked out of a Vogue shoot after Richardson's requests became too explicit to handle. She told New Statesman, “He wanted me to be completely naked and pretend to give one of the men a sex act, while he was also naked.” Cohen said the men were not models or actors, but friends of Richardson. After she left, she later learned that she was replaced by another model who did what Richardson asked. “In 24 years of modeling I have only walked out once. He made me feel as if I was a prostitute,” Cohen told Girlie Girl Army.

Year: 2001/2002

Terry Richardson's photographs and shock-value have become synonymous, but in a 2001/2002 ad campaign with the clothing brand Sisley, things got a little…milky. Model Josie Maran posed with a cow's utter and squirted some farm fresh milk into her mouth in a highly suggestive photograph that shocked anyone who saw the campaign.

Year: 2004

The Observer published an article by Phoebe Eaton, who went to Terry Richardson's “Terry World” exhibition, and brought to light the fact that the show included many photos of models fellating “Uncle Terry.” Among those models was his intern at the time, New York University student Alex, who was pictured doing the deed from inside a trash can while the word “SLUT” was pasted across her forehead. It wasn't a shining moment in Terry history, but then again, few are.

Year: 2004

Included in Phoebe Eaton's Observer article was a description of “a meth-head who finally flipped out and didn't come around the studio anymore” named Boonk. After describing the woman, who would “negotiate an incredible sum of money for some preposterous sexual act,” Eaton wrote that Richardson wondered aloud, “What happened to Boonk?”

Year: 2004

Terryworld, a collection of works by the infamous photographer is definitely a page-turner. The book is filled with uncensored images that reflect his racy, no-holds-barred aesthetic, and the subjects range from pornstars to supermodels. The book caused waves even before a reader opened it up; the book's cover is enveloped with Richardon's nude body with, thankfully, the family jewels covered up.

Year: 2005

Romanian model Gabriela Johansson sued Richardson in 2005 for fraud, misappropriation, invasion of privacy, breach of contact, and intentional infliction of emotional distress after photos of her were published on his site and displayed in an exhibition called "Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture." Johansson claims she was pressured by Richardson to pose nude under the promise of a potential modeling job. After Johansson refused saying she was uncomfortable with this directive, she was terminated from the casting session. The case was dismissed and was reportedly settled quietly.

Year: 2005

Frank “Speedy” Lopera filed a complaint against Richardson for invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence in 2005. At the age of 17, Lopera went to Richardson's home studio for a shoot but was unaware he'd be posing nude. The photos were later published in Terryworld allegedly without Lopera's knowledge. Richardson then denied the accusations saying Lopera was 19, not 17. The case was settled in 2006. Lopera was not the only model who threatened legal action for photos published in Terryworld. There were reportedly as many as nine models who were looking into taking legal action.

Year: 2007

Among other choice words, this statement is pretty straight to the point: “Like I've always said, it's not who you know, it's who you blow. I don't have a hole in my jeans for nothing.” Richardson's statement comes from an interview with Hint Fashion Magazine.

Year: 2007

Coco Rocha said, “I won't work with Terry Richardson again,” after she shot with the photographer in a less-than-modest shoot for French Vogue. Perhaps spitting out a the mouthful of milk made Rocha come out and say that she “didn’t feel comfortable” and “won’t do it again.”

Year: 2008

Jezebel received an email from a writer and stylist from New York named Anna and published the entire letter describing her alleged encounter with Richardson. The photoshoot started off with Anna standing against a wall, making funny faces. Anna said it escalated after posing on the floor. “I felt a dick pressing into the side of my face. Terry Richardson's semi-hard penis was plunged into the outside of my cheek, and he was jabbing it into my face.” Anna then left the shoot and refused an offer to return after Richardson's assistant phoned her and called Anna Richardson's "new muse."

Year: 2009

Model Sena Cech was asked to strip for a photoshoot, for which Richardson also stripped. Richardson's assistant then asked Cech (who was 19 at the time) to give Richardson a violent hand job. “I did it. But later I didn't feel good about it,” Cech said in Sara Ziff's documentary Picture Me.

Year: 2010

Model Rie Rasmussen was not too happy when Richardson used a photo of her in his book Terryworld, in which naked underage girls were depicted as performing sex acts. Rasmussen approached him in Paris and confronted him in public at a fashion event. The model told Richardson that what he does “completey degrades women.” Instead of responding, he quickly fled and called Rasmussen's agency to complain about her behavior. “It was the most cowardly thing I have ever seen,” Rasmussen said.

Year: 2010

Jamie Peck shot with Richardson twice but said in a personal essay published on The Gloss that it didn't get weird until the second shoot. Richardson allegedly suggested to make tea out of Peck's used tampon, got naked, and encouraged her to take photos of him while assistants took photos of them. It concluded with her giving Richardson a hand job and his assistant throwing her a towel to clean up. There was an attempt to contact Richardson to follow up Peck's article, but his representatives did not comment.

Year: 2010

Terry Richardson's GQ photoshoot with Glee stars Dianna Agron, Lea Michele, and Cory Monteith were (unsurprisingly) racy, with Monteith being the only one who was fully clothed. In many of the photos both Agron and Michele posed suggestively. Agron later apologized on her personal blog for the nature of the photos. 

Year: 2010

Sarah Hilker, like many models, turned to Jezebel to tell her story about her alleged encounter with "Uncle Terry." At the time of the incident, Hilker was 17 with a fake ID, but claims that no one even checked to see how old she was. She attended a magazine launch party where Richardson was the event photographer. After seeing Richardson backstage shooting a drunk girl grabbing another man's junk, with plenty of other models lined up to go next, Hilker fled. “To this day, I think it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.”

Year: 2011

Model Felice Fawn put up a post on her blog of a chat between her and Richardson, but later took it down because she was “nervous about the backlash.” In the chat between the two, Richardson tells Fawn that modeling is more than just a pretty face. A copy of the conversation can be found on Jezebel, which offers a revealing glimpse at Richardson's logic and includes choice quotes like, "like i said, daily 20 models do offer me to fuck them for fame and all others i know in fashion also fuck around."

Year: 2011

Recently, a 2011 Skype chat with a then 17-year-old model went public on Vocative. During the conversation, Terry becomes quite irate with the underage model when she makes clear that she wasn’t willing to “sell her body for fame.” He followed this stance of hers up with the response: “Then you need to work at McDonald’s, this is the lifestyle.” The conversation quickly escalates, and Richardson tells the model that she'll "never make it."

Year: 2012

According to IvyGate, Twitter account @BougPunk belongs to Scout Willis, who is the daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. It is on that Twitter account where a then 21-year-old Willis tweeted, “Last night Terry Richardson tried to finger me, I didn't let him, obviously. But I did let him photograph me topless in the bathroom.”

Year: 2013

You either loved this music video, or hated it. Whether it was Cyrus swinging on an actual wrecking ball completely nude or her making out with a sledge hammer, the "Wrecking Ball" video raised many eyebrows. A month later, Richardson put up racy and NSFW photos of Cyrus on his website.

Year: 2013

Audrey Gelman, an ex-girlfriend of Terry Richardson, took to Twitter to defend her best friend Lena Dunham, who Richardson photographed for a V magazine shoot. Gelman tweeted that she and Dunham tried to see the good in someone and both have regrets in regards to their ties with Richardson. According to The Guardian, Dunham also said that Richardon is not and never was her friend.

Year: 2014

Out of all the stories, this one seems the most graphic. Model Charlotte Waters came out with her story on Reddit (which was later removed), claiming that Richardson directed her to do things like pose on a couch while he licked her butt, all while his assistant was taking photos. Waters said there was aggressive kissing and random sexual acts being done to her that ended with Richardson defiling her face. A short period after Waters came out with her story, she spoke to the NYPD about the incident but didn't press charges. After her experience with Richardson, Waters told Vocativ that she stopped nude modeling and left New York. Styleite tried reaching out to Richardson's reps for a response to this allegation but didn't get one. Richardson then claimed all accusations were false in an exclusive lettter that was published in New York Post's Page Six.

Year: 2014

Model Emma Appleton took a screenshot a message allegedly from Richardson and posted it to her Twitter—which has since been deleted. The screenshot was a message that appeared to show Richardson telling Appleton that he would book her for a photoshoot with Vogue if she had sex with him. The photo was tweeted with the caption, "Um what." Richardson's representatives said the message was obviously fake, and Facebook confirmed that it was, in fact, not sent by Terry Richardson. But the scandal led to Vogue stating that the publication had no plans to work with Richardson in the near future.

Year: 2014

After another wave of allegations aimed at Terry Richardson's behavior on set and an alleged text message sent to Emma Appleton promising work for Vogue in exchange for sex, a representative from the publication announced that the magazine has “no plans to work” with the infamous photographer. Vogue along with companies such as H&M, Target, and Aldo are no longer supporting the work of Richardson due to the infamy and impressions that surround his name.

Year: 2014

#NoMoreRerry was a hashtag that accompanied a ton of anti-Terry tweets that inundated the Twitter-sphere this year. Celebrities even began to weigh in on the matter; ex-Disney star Cole Sprouse added his two cents in a tweet where he deemed Richardson a “public deviant.”

Year: 2014

The first step to recovery is admission, and Terry did just that in a cover story for New York Magazine, in which he blatantly states, “I'm a pervert.” Titled "Is Terry Richardson an Artist or a Predator?" the nature and angle of the story was met with a ton of controversy.