The 45-year-old British supermodel made the comments during an interview when she was asked whether she faced racism at the start of her career in the '80s, reported Contactmusic.
"I never use that word 'racism'. I find it a cliche word and I don't want to use it as an excuse," she replied.
"For me it was... I call it territorialism, where there are people that have that certain territory and they stand their ground, and they are not going to change their mind and that is their opinion."
"At first they said no, because they had never had anyone on it. It was instantly 'no' without thinking. So I thought, 'Let me go to my great friend Yves Saint Laurent and tell him'... I asked him to fix the situation and he did. That is how I got it.
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