Shine OnHolland’s Next Top Model wins $85,000 lawsuit related to ‘big hips’
When it comes to modelling, size matters and we all know it.
On Wednesday, a former winner of Holland's Next Top Model won a lawsuit against her modelling agency, which prematurely ended her contract because her hips were too big, reports the Associated Press.
When Ananda Marchildon won the Holland's Next Top Model contest back in 2008, she expected to earn €75,000 ($98,500) over three years in accordance with her modelling contract. Unfortunately for Marchildon, that didn't happen because of her 92-cm hip size.
The contract she was awarded through HNTM was with Modelmasters the Agency (MTA), but when that agency was later absorbed into Elite Model Management, Marchildon's recent weight gain was called into question. After failing to lose weight fast enough, she was dismissed after only one year and €10,000 ($13,000) worth of earnings.
The Amsterdam District Court has required Elite modeling agency to fork up the remaining €65,000 ($85,000) they owe her.
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"Around the time Elite took over, I was put on a so-called keto diet. It is a protein regime: eggs without the yolk, steamed veggies, steamed meat, protein shakes, unsalted nuts, training three to four times a week for two hours," she tells The Daily Beast.
In an email exchange that was part of the published ruling, an Elite representative gave Marchildon the following warning: "Today, March 23, 2010, we measured your hips at 98 centimeters. This is a reminder! The goal is that you have a hip circumference of no more than 90 centimeters at the end of June," reports the Associated Press.
Despite her efforts, including paying out of her own pocket for a dietician and a personal trainer, her hip size did not budge past the 92 cm that she was when she won HNTM. "I really tried to meet their demands," she says, "but it didn't go fast enough for them, so they fired me. My butt's too big, they said."
"After almost two years of struggling, I was finally proven right," she tells The Daily Beast. "A huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders."
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Elite claims that while it picked up MTA's models, it did not pick up its models' existing contracts. The judge disagrees, saying "Marchildon could, in good faith, count on the fact that the contract between Marchildon and MTA was valid for Elite as well."
Further, the judge states that since Marchildon had 92-cm hips when she signed her contract, "Elite could not demand Marchildon reach a hip size of 90 cm," reports The Daily Beast.
Marchildon, who has been making cabinets for a living since she finished with Elite in September, doesn't sound like she's in a hurry to get back to modelling. After finding out about winning the lawsuit on Wednesday, she told The Daily Beast she had to get back to work -- cabinet-making, that is -- and she'd celebrate later with friends over a bottle of champagne.
