Keenyah Hill from “America’s Next Top Model” recalled her time on the reality show during an interview recently, and the 37-year-old shared her experience with the alleged sexual harassment she says was caught on film.
“America’s Next Top Model” aired for 23 seasons, and Hill starred on the model competition show hosted by supermodel Tyra Banks in 2004.
She claimed she was at a photo shoot that aired during the show’s fourth season during an interview with “IMPACT x Nightline” on Hulu when she was harassed.
During the episode, Hill was filming a photo shoot with three male models, one of whom she accused of making unwanted advances prior to the shoot. Hill told the outlet that she was uncomfortable with model Bertini Heumegni’s repeated advances while getting ready for the shoot in South Africa.
“By the time we got to the set, I was already uncomfortable. While I was in hair and makeup, Bertini was like, ‘You’re so beautiful, I want to date you, I want to come to America and find you, I want to be with you,’ trying to get my phone number,” said Hill.
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The model added that she declined Heumegni’s advances multiple times. “I’m telling him, ‘No.’ Three times, I turned him down.”
Heumegni reportedly said he was only trying to make Hill feel more comfortable about the pending photo shoot.
“It wasn’t my intention to make her feel uncomfortable,” he said. “I just wanted her to have a good picture.”
Hill claimed she stopped production after noticing that the Cameroonian model had an erection and was “grunting” in her ear. The shoots creative director Jay Manuel was heard telling Heumegni to act “interested” in Hill “without literally grabbing her butt.”
“All I know is that I feel uncomfortable,” said Hill, who was 19 at the time. “Now, when you watch it, it’s super cringy, because that could’ve been shut down at the shoot. I really wish that my feelings would’ve been taken into account. … That should’ve been squashed there on set, and the focus at panel should’ve been my photo and not that moment.”
Banks reportedly told Hill how to deal with unwanted advances by pushing back.
“You push back in a fun way, where he knows to back the heck up, but it doesn’t really put static in the air,” said Banks. “Because then it makes you uncomfortable.”
Model Adrianne Curry says she was assaulted while shooting “America’s Next Top Model” during season 1. Curry claimed that while in Paris, France, a local man put his hand up her skirt while helping the lost model find the location of her meeting as cameras rolled. The former reality star said the man “totally touched” her vagina while reaching up her dress before walking off.
“He just went off,” recalled Curry. “I just thought, ‘gross, weirdo, a—hole.’ As it processed, I felt worse about it. It’s not something you feel good about. You feel violated, and it’s gross.” She said the man triggered her PTSD from when she was raped and molested.
