Nicholas Hamman-Howe, an aspiring model, filed a lawsuit yesterday against Nolé Marin for supposedly trying to get sex in exchange for help with the model’s career. Marin was a former judge on the reality series, “America’s Next Top Model.”
NY Mag is reporting that Hamman-Howe is claiming that Marin invited him to his apartment in October 2007 for a photo shoot. At the apartment, Hamman-Howe was asked to strip down to his underwear and then Marin “fondled him.”
The aspiring model was “shocked and repulsed and pushed Marin away, shouting, ‘This is not what I do!’” according to the lawsuit that was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Marin responding by supposedly saying that modeling is a “very sexual industry” and it’s all about “who you know and what they’ll do for you.”
The model immediately left the apartment and wouldn’t go near Marin until earlier this year. Marin reportedly sent Hamman-Howe several text messages where he promised him up to $120,000 to pose in a campaign for Armani.
According to the lawsuit, the text message read:
“I want you to be an underwear king!!!”
Hamman-Howe agreed to the photo shoot, but ended up back in Marin’s apartment alone than with “a crew of representatives from Armani.”
The lawsuit claims that Marin reached into the model’s underwear and supposedly said, “You want to be a superstar? You can be a superstar.”
While this is absolutely disgusting and uncalled for, many reports say that these incidents happen a lot to models, especially unknown models looking to make it big. Models don’t always do anything due to fear of jeopardizing their careers.
Hamman-Howe has my respect for taking a stand and pressing charges against Marin. This shouldn’t be something that happens on a regular basis, because it shouldn’t be happening at all.
Update: Nole Marin’s Attorney sent Indyposted.com the following message after the posting of this story:
“The complaint is rife with so many false allegations – from the mundane to the sensational, that Mr. Hammam-Howe’s attorneys should be ashamed. Mr. Nole is an icon of the fashion industry who will not be intimidated by Mr. Hammam-Howe’s desperate fiction, and will defend these claims vigorously.”
We’ll wait and see how this one plays out in court.