It wasn’t model behaviour.
Supermodel Cindy Crawford claimed that former talk show host Oprah Winfrey once demanded that she show off her body on live television to prove she was worthy of fame.
Crawford, 57, made the startling revelation in a brand-new docuseries called The Super Models, which debuted this week on Apple TV+ and follows Crawford as well as Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington as they reflect on their journey to “super” status.
In the series, Crawford recalls her first-ever appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986 alongside her Elite Modeling Agency rep, John Casablancas, reports theNew York Post.
“Did she always have this body?” questioned Winfrey, 69, after introducing the fashion icon. “Stand up just a moment.”
Smiling awkwardly, Crawford stands up from her chair to give the show’s audience a full view of her figure.
“Now this is what I call a BODY,” exclaimed Winfrey.
Looking back on the clip, the fashion icon admitted that the experience made her feel like a child.
“I was like the chattel or a child, be seen and not heard,” said Crawford. “When you look at it through today’s eyes, Oprah’s like, ‘Stand up and show me your body. Show us why you’re worthy of being here’.”
“In the moment I didn’t recognise it and watching it back I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that was so not okay really. Especially from Oprah,’” continued Crawford.
According to Mail Online, the clip featuring the awkward exchange was available on Oprah’s YouTube channel, but was deleted mere hours before the documentary was released.
The Post reached out to both Crawford and Winfrey for comment.
Elsewhere in the interview, Casablancas, who died in 2013, revealed that Crawford would often “pass out” from hunger.
“I passed out there more than once,” reflected Crawford. “Especially right before lunch, you pass out and you would faint. And then they would prop you back up and you would do it all over again.”
The exchange is highly reminiscent of the 1981 interview between Brooke Shields and Barbara Walters when the late journalist asked the then-15-year-old about her measurements.
“The way the press treated us and what was acceptable, whether it’s asking me my measurements on nationwide television,” said Shields. “Asking me to stand up — Barbara Walters did that and compared herself to me — and just the sort of approach that they had in asking me questions as a [teen] was really just unconscionable.”
Shields, now 58, made the comments while appearing on The Kelly Clarkson Show in April.
According to the singer, the line of questioning “stirs rage” in her.
Shields said it “breaks” her heart to “see that little girl” every time she rewatches it.
The Super Models is currently available to stream on Apple TV+.
This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission.