Marina Asenova said her face was used on Sally Hansen cosmetics and the agency is refusing to pay her for a near decade-long endorsement deal made without her permission.
The model decided to sue New York-based MC2 models last year after she saw her image on boxes of hair removal and bleaching cream in a Duane Reade store while on a trip to New York City. She filed an amended suit in Manhattan Supreme Court last week demanding the company to remove the boxes with her face on them off store shelves.
Asenova says her modeling agency, MC2, which should have made a small percentage from the deal and took the full cut, had never told her about the deal to make her the face of Sally Hansen.
The agency’s co-founder, Jeffrey Fuller, told the Daily News that it does not owe Asenova anything because ‘it no longer represents her’ and she was ‘an average model at best’. He added:
“Ms. Asenova was never a supermodel. She was an average model at best with average earnings… It’s a shame her career has dwindled down to the point where she’s suing for money.”
Asenova’s lawyer, Tom Mullaney, says his client just wants the money she’s owed.
“She wasn’t too average to hire, but she was too average to pay,” he said. “I hope they tell that to the judge.”
Marina Asenova is from Bulgaria. She moved back to Europe from New York in 2006. Mullaney, says her career took off in Europe after she left MC2, and she’s worked for Olay, Yves St. Laurent and several other top brands overseas. The brunette also has representation in London, Switzerland and Germany.
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