Terrence "Terry" Richardson (born August 14, 1965) is an American fashion photographer.
Early life
Richardson was born in New York City, the son of Bob Richardson, a fashion photographer who struggled with schizophrenia and drug abuse. Richardson was raised in Hollywood, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, where he attended Hollywood High School; and Ojai, California, where he attended Nordhoff High School. He was shy as a teenager and at some times deemed "completely lacking in social skills". He played bass guitar in the punk rock band The Invisible Government for 5 years. Richardson began photography when the band broke up and his mother introduced him to Tony Kent, a photographer who hired him as an assistant.
Career
Richardson's photographs often contain graphic sexual subject matter. Richardson has shot advertisements for fashion designers and editorial photographs.Richardson has produced several award winning campaigns for Diesel, including the ‘Global Warming Ready’ which won a Silver Lion for Print at Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in 2007. Throughout the years he has also produced several private portraits for the company’s founder, Renzo Rosso. In September 2011, they hosted a mutual book launch together with fashion editor Carine Roitfeld, at Colette in Paris.
Sexual assault allegations
Richardson has been repeatedly accused of sexual abuse throughout the past decade. As reported in The Globe and Mail, he once claimed of the fashion world, “It’s not who you know, it’s who you blow.” Numerous models he worked with in the past, most prominently Danish model and filmmaker Rie Rasmussen and Jamie Peck, have reported their experiences of both sexual harassment and coercion in his studio. “He takes girls who are young, manipulates them to take their clothes off and takes pictures of them they will be ashamed of,” said Rasmussen to the New York Post. Richardson did not respond to the article's publication. Peck, who was 19 at the time, reported that Richardson requested she "take out my tampon for him to play with" and later pressured her into masturbating him with her hand, telling her, “if you make me come, you get an A.”Following the publication of these allegations, the web-site Jezebel.com called on other models to come forward with their experiences with Richardson. Jenna Sauers, a model-turned-blogger for the site, stated she received numerous anonymous accounts of the photographer’s behavior: “I have heard from a lot of models that he has worked with that all say his M.O. is the same. You suddenly get naked and then he touches you and he goes further and further. But you’re surrounded by his assistants and they are validating his actions."
In response to these allegations, Richardson has said, "Some people think they’re degrading to women. And those are great reactions to get, because the same people who are saying that are secretly taking dumps on people or like to drink piss or whatever. Everybody has their trips.” Model Noot Seear has defended him, pointing out that he does not pressure those he works with into doing anything they are uncomfortable with, while designer Marc Jacobs, although admitting problems within the industry, has said that as a person Richardson is "not ill-spirited."
Personal life
Richardson was married to model Nikki Uberti. He was subsequently in a relationship with model and actress Shalom Harlow.
