{"id":958,"date":"2026-08-20T23:22:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T23:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/08\/20\/in-the-1990s-supermodel-karen-mulder-was-posing-for-chanel-and-dior-then-a-visit-to-a-police-station-led-to-a-stay-in-a-psych-ward\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T23:22:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T23:22:58","slug":"in-the-1990s-supermodel-karen-mulder-was-posing-for-chanel-and-dior-then-a-visit-to-a-police-station-led-to-a-stay-in-a-psych-ward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/08\/20\/in-the-1990s-supermodel-karen-mulder-was-posing-for-chanel-and-dior-then-a-visit-to-a-police-station-led-to-a-stay-in-a-psych-ward\/","title":{"rendered":"In the 1990s, Supermodel Karen Mulder Was Posing For Chanel and Dior. Then a Visit to a Police Station Led to a Stay in a Psych Ward"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mulder was among the top supermodels of the 1990s, gracing magazine covers and runways for fashion houses like Christian Dior<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/fsUMK9It7FH3tdgKpqDGw6L9WNE=\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)\/Karen-Mulder-082026-4-3e3ca669d6184ae69c8f5fe980d48265.jpg\" alt=\"Karen MulderCredit: Victor VIRGILE\/Gamma-Rapho via Getty\" title=\" Karen Mulder walks the runway at the Angelo Tarlazzi Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 1992-1993\" \/><figcaption><i>Karen Mulder<br \/>Credit: Victor VIRGILE\/Gamma-Rapho via Getty<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Karen Mulder was one of the top supermodels of the 1990s and a Victoria\u2019s Secret Angel in 1998<\/li>\n<li>Mulder made claims of abuse in the modeling industry on a French talk show in 2001, which were never investigated. Instead, she went into a psychiatric facility<\/li>\n<li>She now says she was \u201csilenced\u201d but feels the industry has changed and is ready for a positive comeback<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A Dutch supermodel is back in the spotlight years after entering a psychiatric institution after calling attention to abuse in the modeling world.<\/p>\n<p>Karen Mulder was among the top supermodels of the 1990s, gracing magazine covers and runways for fashion houses like Christian Dior. But even as the Dutch model posed alongside other \u201cSupers\u201d \u2014 <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tag\/cindy-crawford\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"null\">Cindy Crawford<\/a>, <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tag\/christy-turlington\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"2\" rel=\"null\">Christy Turlington<\/a>, <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/style\/linda-evangelista-felt-forced-to-decline-2017-versace-show-coolsculpting-damage\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"3\" rel=\"null\">Linda Evangelista,<\/a> and <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tag\/naomi-campbell\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"4\" rel=\"null\">Naomi Campbell<\/a> \u2014 she began to raise the alarm about abuse behind the scenes.<\/p>\n<p>And then, everything fell apart, with Mulder making public claims before going into a psychiatric institution in Paris for several months.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vogue.de\/artikel\/karen-mulder-heute-supermodel-90er-vogue-cover-rueckkehr-nach-20-jahren#KarenEnglish\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"null\"><em>Vogue Germany,<\/em><\/a>Mulder, now 57, opened up about that period in her life.<\/p>\n<p>Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/people-news-daily-newsletter-sign-up-8692701\">PEOPLE\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/kxAvZzVO3nICTd1NcajbftxnDHE=\/fit-in\/1280x960\/Karen-Mulder-082026-2-3f95b438a3ff47ecb9e452ee3a7b8b5d.jpg\" alt=\"Karen Mulder walks the runway during the Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture Spring\/Summer 1996 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on January 24, 1996 in Paris, France.Credit: Victor VIRGILE\/Gamma-Rapho via Getty\" title=\" Karen Mulder walks the runway during the Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture Spring\/Summer 1996 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on January 24, 1996 in Paris, France.\" \/><figcaption><i>Karen Mulder walks the runway during the Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture Spring\/Summer 1996 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on January 24, 1996 in Paris, France.<br \/>Credit: Victor VIRGILE\/Gamma-Rapho via Getty<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Per the outlet, Mulder was named \u201cModel of the Year\u201d in 1996, when her day rate exceeded $10,000. She was also one of the first Victoria\u2019s Secret Angels to take to the runway with white wings in 1998.<\/p>\n<p>But on October 31, 2001, she made waves for a different reason, during an appearance on the French talk show <em>Tout le monde en parle\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Then 32, Mulder spoke about \u201csevere abuse, the use of drugs, and business-related pressure and threats to make girls compliant,\u201d<em> Vogue Germany <\/em>reports, adding: \u201cAt one point, she reportedly did nothing but scream before collapsing on camera\u2014or so eyewitnesses and host Thierry Ardisson later recounted. The appearance cannot be fully reconstructed or verified, as it was never broadcast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reports also surfaced that the host had the tapes destroyed following the appearance, even as Mulder went on to make similar claims to other outlets, and finally went to the police with them.<\/p>\n<p>But the claims were not investigated. Instead, Mulder was taken to a psychiatric facility in Paris, where she remained for \u201cseveral months,\u201d per <em>Vogue Germany<\/em>, and \u201csubsequently told the police that she had \u2018fabricated\u2019 all the accusations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In December 2002, after leaving the facility, Mulder was found unconscious in her Paris apartment by her former boyfriend, Jean-Yves Le Fur, following an overdose of sleeping pills.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to <em>Vogue Germany<\/em> now, Mulder claims to have been \u201csilenced,\u201d saying, \u201cI was forced to say I had made it all up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/people-puzzler-8620185\" data-type=\"\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought that because I was famous, people would believe me,\u201d she adds. \u201cAll I wanted was for those terrible things to stop\u2014for men to stop thinking they could do whatever they pleased.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While she doesn\u2019t go into specifics about the abuse or who may have silenced her, Mulder tells the outlet she believes the industry has changed, adding, \u201cnow, I think, is the right time to come back. I\u2019m not the same person I used to be. I\u2019m looking to the future with nothing but positivity.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mulder was among the top supermodels of the 1990s, gracing magazine covers and runways for fashion houses like Christian Dior Karen MulderCredit: Victor VIRGILE\/Gamma-Rapho via Getty NEED TO KNOW Karen Mulder was one of the top supermodels of the 1990s and a Victoria\u2019s Secret Angel in 1998 Mulder made claims of abuse in the modeling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everything-else"],"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"1":{"name":"Everything Else","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/category\/everything-else\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}