Beverley Johnson is reflecting on moments when she experienced racism throughout her career.
Before she became the first ever Black woman to appear on the cover of Vogue, the supermodel had been advised by an agent that this was something she could never achieve.
“When I started my modelling career in the 1970s, I wanted the top modelling agent. That was Eileen Ford. She said, ‘You’ll never be on the cover of Vogue magazine’. So I moved to the rival Wilhelmina agency. I got the cover. I had worked for it and prayed for it, and now I had to honour it,” recalled Johnson during a revealing new interview with People.
The “Beverly’s Full House” star also reflected on an incident where a pool was drained after she took part in a shoot at a hotel.
“What you have to realize is that I was the only Black girl on every shoot. Once in the 1970s, we were at a five-star hotel. I got into the pool. And all of a sudden, the editor came out and made everybody get out,” she remembered.
“They drained the pool. Twenty years later, one of the models told me it was because of me. But I had blocked it out. In order to survive, I would make myself not react. Like Teflon,” she said.
Johnson revealed that she is now teaching her four grandchildren about issues surrounding Black racism.
“The older ones asked about George Floyd. “Did that happen because he was Black?’ I have my own stories,” she continued.
“I was stopped by police in West Hollywood for two hours a few months ago. I was in my white Mercedes-Benz. They asked me whose car I was driving. They said they stopped me because I was texting in the car. I had stopped at the light to text my daughter to tell her I was on my way home. I was terrified.”
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Discussing the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement, Johnson added, “Disruption is uncomfortable, but it means there’s an opening. A crack in the door. And it’s all about trying to make a better world for our kids and our grandkids. ”
