Actor Alan Ritchson has revealed the dark side of his modeling career, claiming he was repeatedly preyed upon by male photographers and endured numerous harrowing close calls with molestation, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
During an appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast on July 27, the Reacher star opened up about how he was afraid to speak up about it because the modeling industry “is set up to facilitate that kind of behavior.”
Ritchson revealed he’d been recruited to become a model while in college and he left school to see where the profession might take him. He eventually became a familiar face and body for the brand Abercrombie and Fitch, starring in campaigns that appeared in stores and catalogs.
When asked about his time with the brand, Ritchson did not look back fondly, recalling to Shepard, “Abercrombie for me is like… I remember when the whole #Me Too thing started happening, then to like Bruce Weber who shot that kind of stuff and the stories that were coming out and the allegations were like, ‘Yep, that happened to me. That happened to me. That happened to me.'”
After a 2018 New York Times article about Weber’s alleged pattern of harassment, more than 20 male models came forward accusing the renowned photographer of sexual misconduct, coercion, forced nudity and unwanted touching. He eventually settled several civil lawsuits in 2021 out of court for undisclosed amounts. He did not admit guilt.
Ritchson told Shepard he thought about coming forward for what happened to him after the allegations against Weber were made public, but by then, he had been getting steady acting work
“I was like, man, should I speak up? ’Cause at that point in time I was like, I was an actor with some visibility. I mean, definitely nothing like what I’m experiencing now, but like there was a bit of a platform there. And I just… I couldn’t… I just couldn’t bring myself to…open up the can of worms in that conversation,” he shared.
“Part of it is like, I don’t want people to think I’m doing this for publicity. I don’t want to bring this s— up,” Ritchson said about not going public with what happened to him, but he was appalled that nothing significant happened after the accusations against Weber.
“But it was denied and settled in all those cases that were brought up, right? And it was like, man, I just wish people knew what was going on in that business, and that something was being done to protect people, because the photographers were largely predatory,” he shared.
Ritchson then unloaded about the industry, telling Shepard, “The whole system is set up to facilitate that kind of behavior. You’re traded to photographers. You’re traded between clients that want to, you know, have you. The agents are doing it, and they know what they’re doing.”
“I remember I almost punched an agent in the f—— face because I had told them to stop sending me to people who are like trying to molest me on these jobs, right?” the Blue Mountain State alum fumed. “I was like, ‘I just need to eat, okay? I just need to eat. That’s all I’m here for. I don’t want to mess around.'”
He then recalled confronting an agent after a disturbing incident at a photoshoot.
“I had this thing happen at a shoot, that like, I went straight to that agency and I like pulled this dude out of his chair and I was like, ‘I’m going to f—— kill you, dude. You knew exactly…’ He’s like, ‘I know, I know, but I just wanted you to…’ And I was like, ‘No,'” Ritchson seethed. “It’s like a game to these people.”