Linda Evangelista says she regrets notorious Nineties quote: ‘I don’t want to be known for that’

‘I was embarassed for her,’ said ‘Vogue’ editor-in-chief Anna Wintour

(AFP via Getty Images)

Linda Evangelista has said she regrets her much-quoted interview in the Nineties, during which she said that she wouldn’t “get out of bed for less than $10,000”.

The former supermodel, 59, spoke the now infamous words during a sit-down alongside Christy Turlington for Vogue in 1990.

Evangelista said she remains haunted by the phrase, which attracted criticism from people who said it demonstrated that the Canadian model was out of touch.

“I had no idea that so much attention would be brought to it,” said Evangelista in the Disney Plus documentary series In Vogue: The 90s, which will be released on the platform on Friday (13 September).

She continued: “I don’t want to be known for that. I’ve done so much more than just that quote but it’s really sticking.”

The series tells the “definitive story of the fashion industry in the Nineties through the eyes of Vogue editors, Hamish Bowles, Edward Enninful, Tonne Goodman and Anna Wintour”.

Speaking in the documentary, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour said that she wanted to remove the line from the article before it was published because she was concerned over how it would reflect on Evangelista.

“I was embarrassed for her,” said Wintour. “[I worried] that it would not reflect well on Linda who was so much part of our being, our world, our family.”

(Apple TV+)

The quote remained in the interview at the behest of the article’s writer Jonathan Van Meter who said he “put up a fight” in order for it to be included.

“I remember getting a call saying, ‘Anna doesn’t like the ending, she thinks it makes them sound mean’,” he said. “But I put up a fight. I was like, you cannot cut this line. I just knew instinctively that it would be the quote heard around the world.”

He recalled “leaning in” to check his dictaphone was still recording when she said the famous words. Shedding some light on the circumstances surrounding the sit-down, the journalist said that Evangelista arrived “about an hour late”.

“We drank vodka, she smoked Marlboro reds the whole time, she ordered two pieces of chocolate cake, [and] didn’t eat any dinner,” recalled Van Meter. “I remember thinking ‘Of course, this is perfect, you’re a supermodel, this is how they are.’”

Linda Evangelista reveals why she chose to undergo cosmetic surgery procedure that left her ‘deformed’ (British Vogue)

It is not the first time that Evangelista has expressed her regret over the notorious statement. In last year’s Apple TV series The Super Models, Evangelista– who has featured on over 700 magazine covers over the course of her influential fashion career – said that the quote “makes her crazy”.

“I’m not the same person I was 30 years ago,” she said. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

Not only does Evangelista regret her words, they were also not necessarily true. According to Grace Coddington, a former Vogue creative director: “Linda certainly got out of bed for less than $10,000 for Vogue.”

Elsewhere in the Disney Plus docuseries, Kate Moss recalled feeling “vulnerable” when shooting her famous 1992 advertising campaign for Calvin Klein, in which she appeared topless as a teenager alongside 21-year-old Mark Wahlberg.

“It was quite overwhelming. I was 18, he was a big superstar rapper and I still felt like just a girl from Croydon,” she said. “They asked me to be topless and there was just a lot of people on set – a lot of men. I did feel vulnerable.”