Supermodel Linda Evangelista accuses ex-husband Gerald Marie of abuse

Supermodel Linda Evangelista has claimed she was abused by her ex-husband, French former modelling agent Gerald Marie.

Evangelista, 58, was married to Marie from 1987 until 1993, during his time as head of the European division of Elite Models.

In an interview for a new Apple TV+ documentary, The Super Models, Evangelista described her five-year marriage to Marie as an “abusive relationship”.

“It’s easier said than done to leave an abusive relationship,” she said in the programme released on Wednesday 20 September. “I understand that concept, because I lived it. If it was just a matter of saying, ‘I want a divorce, see ya’... it doesn’t work that way.”

She added: “He knew not to touch my face, not to touch the money-maker, you know?”

The Independent has contacted representatives of Marie for comment.

In a statement provided to Apple TV+, and obtained by The Telegraph, the 73-year-old denied the abuse allegations, and said he “has never committed the slightest act of violence”.

Marie was accused of rape and sexual assault by multiple women during the 1980s and 1990s. He denied all of the allegations.

In 2021, French prosecutors decided to close their investigation since the allegations exceeded the country’s statute of limitations for reporting sex crimes.