Supermodel Beverly Johnson Recalls A Hotel Draining Its Pool After She Took A Swim: “As A Model, There Were Different Kinds Of Things That Would Happen To Me Because I Was Black”

Beverly Johnson, the primary Black mannequin on the duvet of Vogue, encountered distressing racism throughout her rise to fame throughout the trend business.

The 71-year-old supermodel lately shared with Web page Six an incident the place she found {that a} resort had emptied its pool after she had gone for a swim, solely because of the coloration of her pores and skin.

“I did not know until we all went to the Eileen Ford’s 90th birthday party,” Johnson recalled. “All the models were there, and the very rich people, and one girl said to me, ‘Remember when they drained the pool?’ When you got in the pool at the so-and-so hotel?”

She added, “I was like, ‘They did?’ And she said, ‘You didn’t know that?’ So you get a lot of that. People draining pools, it was racist. As a model, there were different kinds of things that would happen to me because I was Black.”

Nonetheless, Johnson secured the duvet of Glamour journal a powerful 15 instances and fondly reminisced a few fellow mannequin who persistently supported and championed her all through her profession.

“Lauren Hutton would go to photo shoots and say out loud, ‘Why isn’t Beverly on the cover of magazines? She is just as pretty.’ And at that time Lauren was on every cover. She was the it girl. So it was major for her to say that out loud at the time.” Johnson stated.