Linda Evangelista claims in a new documentary that she suffered physical abuse at the hands of her ex-husband, Gérald Marie.
“He knew not to touch my face, not to touch the money maker, ya know?” the 58-year-old runway star alleged in the third episode of Apple TV+’s “The Super Models” docuseries.
The French former model agency boss — who has vehemently denied the supermodel’s claims — and Evangelista wed in 1987 when she was just 22 years old and he was 37.
“I got out when I was 27, and he let me out as long as he got everything. But I was safe and I got my freedom,” she said in the doc.
Evangelista added that leaving the alleged abusive relationship wasn’t easy.
“It wasn’t a matter of just saying, ‘I want a divorce, see ya.’ It doesn’t work that way,” she explained.
“Gérald Marie firmly objects to the defamatory and false allegations made against him. He refuses to participate in this dishonest media controversy,” Marie’s lawyer Céline Bekerman told Pvnew in a statement Wednesday.
In 2020, Marie — who once ran the European offices of Elite Model Management — was accused of raping multiple women, including Mickey Rourke’s ex-wife Carré Otis, during the ’80s and ’90s. He was accused of sexual assault by at least 15 women.
“When I found out that he’s hurt many, many, many women, he’s violated many women … It broke my heart,” Evangelista said in the new doc, holding back tears. “Thanks to the power of all these women coming forward. Bless them, God bless all of them. It gave me the courage now to speak.”
“I would love that justice be served. I would love for assholes like that to think twice and be afraid. And I would love women to know that they’re not alone,” she added.
Marie has maintained his innocence with his lawyer telling People, he “has never committed the slightest act of violence.”
In 2023, French prosecutors closed the investigation into the allegations made against Marie due to the statute of limitations on the alleged abuse.
Evangelista eventually moved on with French businessman François-Henri Pinault in 2005.
The pair share son Augustin James Evangelista, whom they welcomed in 2006, the same year they called it quits.
Pinault has been married to Salma Hayek since 2009.
