Supermodel Twiggy says men never did 'awful things' to her because she always had a chaperone

Sign up for the Independent Women email for the latest news, opinion and features

Get the Independent Women email for free

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

Twiggy says she “never really” had men harass her during her modelling career because she always took a chaperone to photo shoots.

The 70-year-old supermodel says she has started to reflect on her own experiences after the emergency of the global #MeToo movement, which saw thousands of women – and some high profile celebrities – talk about sexual harassment.

Twiggy, real name Lesley Lawson, told the January edition of Platinum magazine: “Now all this has come out about all these men that have done awful things.

“It never really happened to me because I always had a person with me. I was never hit on at all. I was lucky because I was so innocent and green.”

The British cultural icon, who rose to fame at the age of 16, regularly went to shoots with her then-boyfriend Justin de Villeneuve, who later became her manager.

Although she did admit that she had met “a couple of horrible photographers” early on in her career she had largely positive experiences because De Villenueve was there.

“[One] told me: ‘You’re far too young, come back to me when you’re a woman’,” she says. “I went outside and cried my eyes out. He was awful.”

In the interview Twiggy also discussed the rise in cosmetic surgery, which she says leaves people looking like a “chipmunk”.

“I could do with a bit [of surgery],” she admitted, before explaining her reluctance to go under the knife. “Mainly it’s because I don’t like the look of some people who’ve had too much work.

"I don't like those filler things they pump into people's faces. They look like chipmunks."

Twiggy retired from modelling in 1970 at the age of 21, saying: "You can't be a clothes hanger for your entire life."

She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the new year honours for services to fashion, the arts and charity.