‘Nobody goes to a plastic surgeon and says, ‘Make me fat”: Victoria’s Secret owner Les Wexner, 82, mocked efforts to champion women of different sizes as his exec ‘fat-shamed’ a female employee for eating at a company buffet, shock exposé claims

• New report makes explosive claims about L Brands CEO Les Wexner
• Alleges rampant harassment and misconduct at subsidiary Victoria’s Secret
• Says Victoria’s Secret exec Ed Razek was subject of repeated complaints
• Claims Wexner mocked the industry’s efforts to embrace different body types
• ‘Nobody goes to a plastic surgeon and says, ‘Make me fat’, Wexner allegedly said
• Another former employee alleges Razek ‘fat-shamed’ her for eating at a buffet
• Casey Crowe Taylor says her complaint to HR went nowhere and she quit
• She published a post on Facebook Saturday saying that she had wrestled with Razek’s ‘voice in my head every time I wanted to eat more food’ for 4.5 years
• Victoria’s Secret has long faced criticism for the lack of diverse body types featured in its campaigns and runway shows
• In 2018, Razek made headlines when he said women of different sizes and transsexuals didn’t belong on the runway  
• Report also claims Razek was allowed to run amok and harass model Bella Hadid
• Also accuses Wexner of turning a blind eye to former associate Jeffrey Epstein 
• Razek strenuously denies the allegations and Wexner has yet to comment 

Victoria’s Secret owner Les Wexner, 82, mocked the retail industry’s efforts to champion women of different body sizes, a bombshell report claims. 

The lengthy report into the fractured lingerie business, released on Saturday by the New York Times, accuses Wexner and Ed Razek, his right-hand man at parent company L Brands, of presiding ‘over an entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment’.

The Times cites interviews with more than 30 current and former executives, employees, contractors and models, as well as court filings and other documents.

It chronicles claims of a long-running culture of rampant sexual harassment of the line’s ‘Angel’ models and other misconduct within the company, that Wexner turned a blind eye to.

Les Wexner and Ed Razek pose backstage at the 2016 Fragrance Foundation Awards presented by Hearst Magazines – Show on June 7, 2016 in New York City. The Times report accuses them of presiding ‘over an entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment’

Two employees say Wexner mocked the retail industry’s efforts to embrace different body types. ‘Nobody goes to a plastic surgeon and says, ‘Make me fat,’ Wexner allegedly said

Casey Crowe Taylor, a former public relations employee at Victoria’s Secret, told the Times on the record that at a June 2015 photo shoot Razek berated her about her weight

In the report, Wexner is also accused of being an instigator of misogynistic behavior by slamming the idea that the retail industry should embrace and represent different female body types.     

At one meeting at Victoria’s Secret headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, an employee asked Wexner what he thought about the retail industry’s efforts to champion women of different shapes and sizes, the report states. 

Two separate attendees at the meeting both told The Times Wexner rebuked the idea, replying: ‘Nobody goes to a plastic surgeon and says, ‘Make me fat’.’

Another former employee alleges that Razek fat-shamed her for eating at a company buffet.

Casey Crowe Taylor, a former public relations employee at Victoria’s Secret, told the Times on the record that at a June 2015 photo shoot the company laid on a buffet for staff. 

Crowe Taylor says that when she went to get seconds, Razek stood in her way and looked her up and down.

He then berated her about her weight and told her she needed to lay off the pasta and bread as dozens of coworkers looked on, she said. 

Crowe Taylor (left) attending the Victoria by Victoria’s Secret Fragrance launch event in New Yorkin 2013. She says Razek told her she needed to lay off the pasta and bread when she went to get seconds at a buffet

Crowe Taylor spoke out on social media about the long-term impact Razek’s comments had on her. She published a post on her Facebook account (above) Saturday saying that she had wrestled with Razek’s ‘voice in my head every time I wanted to eat more food’ for 4.5 years

Crowe Taylor, who was 5-foot-10 and 140 pounds at the time, ran off in tears.  

She says that her complaint to human resources appeared to go nowhere, and that she quit the company a few weeks later.    

She says that abuse was ‘ingrained’ at the organisation. 

‘What was most alarming to me, as someone who was always raised as an independent woman, was just how ingrained this behavior was,’ she told the Times. 

‘This abuse was just laughed off and accepted as normal. It was almost like brainwashing. And anyone who tried to do anything about it wasn’t just ignored. They were punished.’ 

Crowe Taylor has spoken out on social media about the long-term impact Razek’s comments have had on her. 

Wexner ((pictured with his wife Abigail in 2014) founded what would eventually become L Brands in 1963, according to the company’s website

In a post published on her Facebook account Saturday, she said she had wrestled with Razek’s ‘voice in my head every time I wanted to eat more food’. 

The post said: ‘As I type this my entire body is shaking. I’ve waited 4.5 years to feel strong and supported enough to say this story out loud. I’ve carried this story around with me like a ball and chain for 1,642 days.

‘In June 2015 while working for @victoriassecret I was singled out by Ed Razek in a room full of people and harassed for getting up for a second plate at the buffet lunch on set. 

‘An entire room of people watched and did nothing while he body shamed me and said things like, “Are you really going eat more bread?” and “How do you look at yourself in the mirror everyday?”

‘For years I wrestled with this man’s voice in my head every time I wanted to eat more food, every time I looked in the mirror. For years this experience weighed on me with shame and I barely talked about it but I thought about I all the time.

‘And my best guess is that Ed Razek doesn’t even remember me let alone that day on set when he needed to abuse a smaller person so that he could feel bigger. But I am not small now. Not today.

‘Today I speak my truth along side many other women. Today I weigh an additional 35 pounds than I did on that day. Today I am so proud of my body, what it looks like and what it’s capable of. Today I am finally free of this.’  

Victoria’s Secret has long faced criticism for the lack of diverse body types featured in its campaigns and runway shows, and for failing to keep up with the shift among rival brands to become more body-inclusive.

The company received praise when it announced that Barbara Palvin (above) would be one of its new ‘Angels’ with one Facebook post calling Palvin ‘the first plus size Victoria’s Secret angel’

However, critics quickly pointed out that Palvin (above) was not plus-size but actually a size 8

Back in 2018, Razek made headlines when he said women of different sizes and transsexuals didn’t belong on the Victoria’s Secret runway because that would undermine the ‘fantasy’ of the show.

‘Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should,’ he said in an interview with Vogue. 

‘Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It’s a 42-minute entertainment special…,’ he said.

‘We attempted to do a television special for plus-sizes [in 2000]. No one had any interest in it, still don’t.’ 

Razek resigned last summer long after public criticism over his comments. 

In 2019, the company appeared to be making some headway.

The company received praise when it announced that Barbara Palvin would be one if its new ‘Angels’.

A Facebook post sharing the news labelled Palvin ‘the first plus size Victoria’s Secret angel’.

However, critics quickly pointed out that she was not a plus-size model but is actually a size 8.

Victoria’s Secret announced in 2019 it was partnering with inclusive UK lingerie brand Bluebella and that plus-size model Ali Tate (above) would be modelling part of the collection

Tate in recent shots on her Instagram page 

Later that year, Victoria’s Secret announced it was partnering with inclusive UK lingerie brand Bluebella and that plus-size model Ali Tate would be modelling part of the collection.

The Times report levels several other allegations against the company.      

Wexner is the founder and CEO of L Brands, which is the parent company of Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, and Pink. 

Razek, 71, is the former chief marketing officer of the parent company and for 27 years was in charge of casting the Victoria’s Secret Angels.   

On multiple occasions, Wexner was heard demeaning women, the Times reports, and Razek is accused of more outrageous behavior.

In 2018, supermodel Bella Hadid was being fitted at the annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show when Razek said ‘forget the panties,’ according to three people present. 

Sitting on a couch, he also wondered aloud whether the TV network would allow her to walk ‘down the runway with those perfect t***ies,’ the people said — though one disagreed and believes he said ‘perfect breasts.’ 

At the same fitting, Razek placed his hand on another model’s underwear-covered crotch, three people said. 

A human resources complaint was filed over Razek detailing more than a dozen allegations, the Times reported. 

At castings, Razek sometimes asked models in their bras and underwear for their phone numbers, three people who witnessed his advances told the Times. He urged others to sit on his lap.  

Alyssa Miller, who had been an occasional Victoria’s Secret model, described Razek’s behavior as ‘toxic masculinity.’ 

She said he had an attitude that: ‘I am the holder of the power. I can make you or break you.’  

Wexner is accused of turning a blind eye to complaints that Razek harassed Angels.

Ed Razek reportedly wondered aloud whether the TV network would allow Bella Hadid to walk ‘down the runway with those perfect t***ies,’

Bella Hadid walks the runway during the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show at Pier 94 on November 8, 2018 in New York City

In 2018, supermodel Bella Hadid (left) was being fitted at the annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show when Razek (right) declaimed ‘forget the panties,’ three people told the Times

It is also alleged that he did nothing about his former associate, the late sex criminal Jefferey Epstein, attempting to recruit women. 

Epstein, who ran a purported hedge fund, never had any publicly disclosed clients as a money manager, other than the billionaire Wexner. 

Last year, Wexner accused Epstein of misappropriating ‘vast sums’ of his fortune while managing his personal finances, and said he had cut ties with Epstein a decade prior.

‘I know now that my trust in him was grossly misplaced, and I deeply regret having ever crossed his path,’ Wexner wrote in a letter to members of his charitable foundation, which focuses on the development of Jewish professional and volunteer leaders. 

Wexner is known to have sold Epstein the Manhattan mansion where he hosted his infamous parties.  

For over a decade, from 1995 through 2006, Epstein lied to aspiring models that he worked for Victoria’s Secret and could help them land gigs, according to the Times.

‘I had spent all of my savings getting Victoria’s Secret lingerie to prepare for what I thought would be my audition,’ a woman identified as Jane Doe said in a statement read aloud last summer in a federal court hearing in the Epstein case. 

‘But instead it seemed like a casting call for prostitution. I felt like I was in hell,’ she said. 

Three L Brands executives told the Times that Wexner was alerted to Epstein’s sick and predatory behavior as early as the mid-1990s — but that there was no sign he ever took action. 

Jeffrey Epstein is seen at the first Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show at the Plaza Hotel in 1995

Epstein died behind bars in August 2019, a little over a month after he was arrested and charged with sex trafficking dozens of underage girls as young as 14 from at least 2002 to 2005. His death was officially ruled a suicide. 

In July 2019, the L Brands board hired an outside law firm to investigate what role Epstein played at the company. The findings have not been made public.   

Razek strenuously denies all the allegations made in the shock report, telling the Times: ‘The accusations in this reporting are categorically untrue, misconstrued or taken out of context.’

‘I’ve been fortunate to work with countless, world-class models and gifted professionals and take great pride in the mutual respect we have for each other,’ Razek continued, declining to comment on a detailed list of allegations. 

A representative for Wexner did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com, and he declined to comment to the Times, through a representative. 

Wexner is the longest-serving CEO of a Standard & Poor’s 500 company, having served as CEO for more than five decades. 

He founded what would eventually become L Brands in 1963 with one The Limited retail store, according to the company’s website.

Les Wexner and model Stella Maxwell pose at the 2016 Fragrance Foundation Awards

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