Sara Sampaio is pursuing legal action against a French magazine for publishing nude shots of her without consent. The Portuguese model is one of the hottest names in the business at the moment, having walked the runway for Victoria's Secret and posing for Elle, Vogue, Glamour and Sports Illustrated. While Sara is used to showing off her figure in lingerie or swimsuits for photoshoots, she is now alleging that editors at magazine Lui have published nude photos without her permission.
"I had agreed to shoot the cover feature of Lui's autumn issue, under the condition that there was NO NUDITY. My agency and I insisted on having a clear agreement in place to protect myself in order to control the choice I made," she wrote on her Instagram page on Thursday night. "Even with the 'No Nudity' clause in my agreement with Lui, I was aggressively pressured to do nude shots on set, asking me why I didn't want to show my nipples or go fully nude."
Sara claimed that throughout the shoot, she reiterated her boundaries and covered herself the best she could. However, she noticed "accidental exposures" which she brought to the attention of editors.
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"The magazine lied and proceeded to publish a cover image of me with nudity, which was in clear violation of our agreement," the 26-year-old added. "Since the issue was released, I've been working with my agency to pursue legal action against Lui. What they did to me is unacceptable. I feel violated, mistreated and disrespected as a professional and as a woman. I want to do what I can to prevent this from happening to me again, and to others."
Sara has been a vocal supporter of sexual abuse and harassment victims in recent weeks on her social media accounts, having picked up fellow model Cameron Russell's #myjobshouldnotincludeabuse campaign in a bid to encourage others traumatised by sexual misconduct to speak up and seek help rather than suffer in silence.
To conclude her post, the brunette beauty stated that having posed nude in the past does not obligate her to do so again. "Just because I've consented to posing nude in the past, it does not give anyone the permission to assume I would do so again under any circumstance... It's my choice. And when I make that choice, I expect to be treated with respect and professionalism," she added.
