Famous photographer Terry Richardson is facing multiple allegations from past models claiming his behavior onset was inappropriately sexual.
Amongst all the allegations, Richardson has decided to speak out against the claims brought up against him in the media to the New York Post.
"I chose to primarily ignore a cycle of Internet gossip and false accusations against me," Richardson told the Post. "I felt that to dignify them with a response was a betrayal of my work and my character."
Richardson specifically refers to claims brought up last week, which includes an anonymous Reddit user who has since identified herself as Charlotte Waters. The former model, now 24, told Vocativ about Richardson "licking her" and "demanding" oral sex from her.
"It's hard not to look back at this stuff and see that I was a rapist's dream, completely naive and trusting, but passive and shy on top of that," she said.
Waters was 19-years-old at the time of her photo shoot.
"He told me to keep my eyes open super wide," Waters told Vocative. "His assistant was standing right there too, and his cum got in my eyes. This was actually his favorite moment. He got so excited. He kept telling me to keep my eyes open, and he grabbed his camera, and his assistant had her little point-and-shoot, and they were just taking all these pictures of it. Then they finally backed off and one of them got me a towel and told me to wipe myself off."
However, Richardson is adamant the allegations are vicious lies being brought up against him.
"When these allegations resurfaced over the past few months, they seemed especially vicious and distorted . . . becoming nothing more than an emotionally-charged witch hunt," the photographer told the Post. Richardson added, "People have become comfortable concocting hate-filled and libelous tales In writing this, I make a humble attempt at correcting these rumors."
"I collaborated with consenting adult women who were fully aware of the nature of the work, and as is typical with any project, everyone signed releases," Richardson explained to the Post. "I have never used an offer of work or a threat of rebuke to coerce someone into something that they did not want to do. I give everyone that I work with enough respect to view them as having ownership of their free will and making their decisions accordingly."
