By Pam Lambert, People Weekly
Carolyn Fears says she still can remember the moment she excitedly opened her first paycheck as a big-time New York City model. What shocked her, she says, is that it was a lot more smaller than she expected, thanks in part to an unanticipated $ 1,500 that had been taken out by her agency, Ford Models inc. The reason, one of the bookers told her, was that Ford charged all models a fee for the promotional book sent to potential employers. "I didn't realize it, but Eileen Ford, the head of the agency, was standing behind me," says Fear. And she said, 'Excuuuuse me, do you have a problem with that? If you don't like it, get out'. I ran into the bathroom and cried. I learned not to ask about these things".
Now, ten years later, she's asking. In a federal class-action lawsuit scheduled for a pretrial next month, Fears, 32, and 12 other models alledge that the world's top agencies, including Ford and Whilhelmina, violate state and federal laws by charching "extortionate" fees and commissions amounting to as much as a third of a model's earings.