A former model has accused magician David Blaine of raping her in a London mansion in 2004.
The model, Natasha Prince, told The Daily Beast that David invited her to his residence and drugged her with a drink she thought was a vodka cocktail.
Whatever was in the drink caused her to turn “floaty” and mostly black out, she said.
via NYDN:
“At some point, I was on the bed, face-forward, and he was behind me. I think it woke me up a little bit, because I’d never had (that kind of sex act) done to me before,” Prince told the news website.
“I remember being flipped around, and it all seemed like slow motion,” she said.
Prince recalled feeling “very stoned” when she finally woke up and was fully conscious.
“The lights were on, and I was naked. He was shirtless at the end of the bed. And when I looked at him, he said, ‘You have really nice t–s,’” Prince recalled.
Scotland Yard confirmed the woman reported the alleged attack on Nov. 17, 2016. She told police she was raped in June or July 2004.
Blaine’s lawyer shot down the allegations.
“My client vehemently denies that he raped or sexually assaulted any woman, ever, and he specifically denies raping a woman in 2004,” Marty Singer said.
“If, in fact, there is any police investigation, my client will fully cooperate because he has nothing to hide.”
In her interview with The Daily Beast, Prince said she didn’t report the alleged rape at first because she initially felt attracted to Blaine and believed she invited the attack by showing possible interest.
“You have to understand, my interpretation was that it was my fault. I didn’t think of it as rape. In my head, rape was being sober — pull her in a bush, pull down her pants and just ditch her … So I blamed myself. I did like him. I was interested in him. So I didn’t think about going to the police,” she told the website.
Prince described first meeting Blaine at a Knightsbridge nightclub called the Wellington.
“He was nice to me,” she said. “I’m not sure what was said, but I remember he was giving me a lot of attention. I’m thinking, ‘He’s famous; there are beautiful girls all around him.’ I didn’t have any intentions — I just love meeting people.”
She said Blaine texted her the next day with the invitation to the private residence. At first she turned it down, citing an early work call the next morning, but Blaine offered to send a car, so she agreed.
“We pulled up to this mansion — there were electronic gates, and it really intimidated me. It was like an embassy, with 20 or 30 rooms, and I took an elevator up to the third or fourth floor,” she recalled.
Prince said Blaine handed her the drink, and shortly after that, he assaulted her.
In a makeup chair for a modeling gig the next morning, she tried to piece everything together, she said.
“What did I do last night? Did I have sex with David Blaine? But I didn’t want to,” she recalled thinking. “I felt hazy, completely out of it. I don’t remember taking a shower, where I changed, leaving his house or anything,” she said.
Prince said her personality began to shift after the alleged assault. She became more insecure and anxious, drank more and eventually quit modeling altogether at age 24.
“I think I tried really hard to block it out. But I carried this awful feeling with me,” she said.
She ran into Blaine a few times over the years, including a chance encounter in a New York City subway that included his girlfriend and daughter, she said.
A few days later, Blaine showed up outside her new place of work, Manhattan’s famed Gagosian Gallery.
“He called my name and asked how I was. It was very brief, but he seemed to come out of nowhere,” Prince said.
Blaine acknowledged meeting Prince in a statement from Singer that claimed she approached him.
“The last time my client saw Ms. Prince was approximately five years ago, on the streets of New York, where Ms. Prince approached my client and invited him to see her at the Gagosian Gallery, where she works. This conduct is completely inconsistent with any claim that my client engaged in any wrongful conduct approximately 13 years ago with Ms. Prince,” Singer said.
Prince said she finally reported the incident last year after working out what happened in therapy.
“I was so ashamed and worried about everyone knowing in New York,” she said of the delay. “I had always protected myself and my reputation. I considered myself a classy girl from a nice British family. I had standards. I wasn’t the type to sleep around.”
Prince reportedly shared an email with The Daily Beast showing Scotland Yard had contacted Blaine’s lawyer and requested the illusionist appear for an “interview under caution.”
This is upsetting.
