Models Begrudgingly Give To Charity

Back in 2002 a troupe of models sued agencies like Wilhelmina and Ford for allegedly fixing prices (details of the lawsuit can be found here) — the settlement was reached in 2005 but has been delayed until now after some disagreements arose concerning how to divvy up the money. In the end, the class-action suit got the models $21 million, with $2 million ordered to go to charities.

According to the Daily News, five women's charities were chosen — and Manhattan Federal Judge Harold Baer originally ruled they would receive $6 million, but the models and their lawyers weren't having that.

Included in the final $2 million charity payout is Columbia University's eating disorders program and heroin detox program. So really they're just giving back to their future selves.

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By Jen Carlson in News on December 30, 2009 9:54 AM

Comments [rss]

Aveais Essex

The photo? Well played.

kleinpeter

Wow... models actually proving their stereotypes of stupidity. Lovely.

thewildpansy

What does that have to do with a model's stupidity? They won a court case that had legitimate merit.

kleinpeter

Too stupid to see what kind of light their choices in charities shead on people in their industry.

And yeah, they may have won the court case and deserved to - but they aren't the ones that did the talking. their lawyers won the case.

NattyB

Oh gothamist, how your commenters love to project their issues and stupidity.

"Too stupid to see what kind of light their choices in charities shead [sic] on people in their industry."

Notwithstanding that the sentence you wrote is incomprehensible, you're so right. Because they picked charities that suggest that the models are stupid?!? Or because they picked charities that address problems that Models are believed to suffer from in higher percentages then the general population at large?

What charities would you suggest? MADD? Transportation Alternatives? The United Way? Derek Zoolander Institute for kids that don't read good?

Picking charities that are in someway linked to their industry is perfectly sensible. They didn't give money to the Anna Sui School of Design and Fabric Making.