While celebrating the 50th anniversary of her iconic and historic 1974 Vogue cover, Beverly Johnson also recalls the moment when a five-star hotel drained its swimming pool after she used it because she was Black.
RELATED: Chris Noth’s Ex Beverly Johnson Claims He Once Threatened To Kill Her
The iconic supermodel who broke barriers as the first Black model on the cover of Vogue, recently spoke with Page Six and remembered the shocking moment when she learned that a hotel had drained its pool after she took a swim, all because of the color of her skin.
Recalling the moment, 71-year-old Johnson mentioned famed modeling agent Eileen Ford, who passed away at age 92 in 2014. She said, “I did not know until we all went to the Eileen Ford’s 90th birthday party.”
RELATED: Gail O’Neill, Model & TV Personality, Passes Away At 61
Johnson continued, “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? I was like, ‘They did?’ And she said, ‘You didn’t know that?’”
Johnson added, “This was during the ’80s, I would not say the name of the hotel because I don’t want to get sued. 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.”
RELATED: Designer Michael Costello Breaks Silence After Asian Model Accuses Him Of Photoshopping & Whitewashing Her Face Online
Before her latest exclusive with Page Six, Beverly Johnson previously spoke on this incident back in July 2020. At the time, she was 67 and had written a wide-ranging editorial about race in PEOPLE Magazine.
In her piece, Johnson, who grew up in Buffalo, New York, recalled the first time she had ever experienced racism. She said she was about 12 or 13 years old and was riding her bike in a white neighborhood, where kids were throwing bottles at her and yelling out the n-word.
She said the racism would continue into her pioneering modeling career and noted that even 46 years later, there was still much more change that needed to be addressed in the fashion world. Beverly Johnson noted that she was always “the only Black girl on every shoot” and that she had once modeled at a five-star hotel, that saw her taking a dip in the swimming pool as part of the shoot.
She said, “All of a sudden, the editor came out and made everybody get out. They drained the pool. Twenty years later, one of the models told me it was because of me. But I had blocked it out. In order to survive, I would make myself not react. Like Teflon.”
RELATED: Kylie Jenner Cosmetics Company Sued By Model For Money Owed, Rep Claims Model’s Team Is To Blame
#Socialites, be sure to check out the post below, then leave us your thoughts in a comment after!
