The 7 most shocking Victoria’s Secret revelations from Hulu’s “Angels and Demons” docuseries

IVictoria’s Secret Angels (from L) New Zealander model Stella Maxwell, Danish model Josephine Skriver, US model Jasmine Tookes, US model Lily Aldridge, Brazilian model Adriana Lima, Swedish model Elsa Hosk, Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio, US model Taylor Hill and US model Martha Hunt present creations during the 2016 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show at the Grand Palais in Paris on November 30, 2016. (MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)

“For me, fantasies are more effective when there’s a diversity to them. And . . . a lot of the models looked the same, not a lot of different body types at the time . . . not racially diverse,” said Lyndsey Scott, a former Victoria’s Secret model. “It became clear to me that Victoria’s Secret wasn’t empowering women. They used such a narrow idea of beauty in their marketing, that it was doing the complete opposite. It was making women feel badly about themselves.”

During the early 21st century, Victoria’s Secret touted an unattainable body type that was only achievable through Photoshop, plastic surgery and other extreme enhancements. The brand’s marketing tactics played on women’s insecurities and ultimately, distorted one’s idea of healthy body image. Approximately 60-80% of American women said they wanted to be thinner while 89% of teenage girls said they felt pressured by the fashion industry to lose weight.

“Today, people howl about the effects of Instagram on young girls,” said Michael Gross, author of the 1995 novel “Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women.” “At the time, Victoria’s Secret was the analog version of the same thing.”

Victoria’s Secret models even lambasted the extreme dieting regimes and weight requirements they had to abide by, especially before the annual fashion show. Dorothea Barth Jörgensen, a former PINK model, said she didn’t eat much during the 10 years she worked as a model for the brand. Tyra Banks, in an old interview, said she was once told to drop 10 pounds. At 5’10 and 123 pounds, she was deemed “too curvy.”

In recent years, Victoria’s Secret has ditched its old-fashioned tactics and emerged as a more size-inclusive and gender-inclusive brand. Per a 2021 Teen Vogue article, the brand is “moving away from telling its customer ‘what’s sexy and how to look’ in favor of supporting consumers ‘throughout every phase of their life.’

“It’s a change led by an entirely new board of directors that consists of seven people, six of whom are women.”