Top model faces lawsuit in New York charging drug abuse

NEW YORK (Reuter) Supermodel Amy Wesson is facing a $5 million lawsuit
filed by a modeling agency accusing her of missing assignments and acting
unprofessionally because she was allegedly addicted to cocaine and other
drugs.

The lawsuit accuses the 19yearold Wesson of breach of contract with the
agency, Company Management, which began representing her in 1994, its
executive director, Robert Flutie, said on Thursday. ``She's got a
problem,'' Flutie said in an interview. He said the $5 million lawsuit was
filed after ``several months'' of trying to tell Wesson that she was
abusing cocaine and other substances and that it was affecting her work.

Beginning around last May, the lawsuit says, Wesson began using illegal
drugs including cocaine that left her addicted and incapacitated.

In court documents obtained on Thursday, the modeling agency said she
missed assignments with Vogue magazine and with department store Neiman
Marcus.

Wesson, a lanky, pale, blonde model, is reportedly in Milan for fashion
shows and is represented by Parisbased agency Marilyn Gauthier, which has
opened an office in New York, Marilyn Inc. The Mississippiborn Wesson has
modeled for Valentino and Versace.

The lawsuit was filed June 26 in state Supreme Court in Manhattan but did
not become public until this week.

Wesson denied the allegations in a response filed by her attorneys in early
August. They did not return calls seeking comment on Thursday.

Last spring a fashion writer in Vogue magazine criticized Wesson for having
a ``sickly heroin look.''

Earlier this year, President Clinton criticized the fashion industry for
promoting socalled heroin chic, in which models pose as if under the
influence of drugs. He took the industry to task for trying to sell the
look to young people.

Oral arguments are scheduled in the case sometime this month, Flutie said.
There has been no talk of settling the case outside court, he added. ^REUTER@