Model Iskra Lawrence Claims She Was ‘Paid a Lot Less’ Because of Her Body

Iskra Lawrence is letting fans in on the realities of working as a plus-size model.

“What sucked was, unfortunately, being in a larger body, I often got paid a lot less than other models,” Lawrence, 34, claimed on the Wednesday, September 3, episode of Your Rich BFF’s “Networth & Chill” podcast. “I mean, [it was because of] discrimination.”

She added, “In your contract, when you sign with an agent, there is a clause that says you’re not meant to talk about money. There [are] times when I’ve gotten to set, not knowing how much I was going to earn and just hoping I get the check. It’s usually net 90.”

Lawrence has been working in the modeling agency since she was a teenager.

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“[Clients] would say, ‘We just want someone who looks like a real person, like, a girl next door,’” she recalled. “I got in the door with all these brands, and then one thing that I knew where I could bring value was doing a great job when I got there. I’m the model [who] is going to work harder than anyone else.”

Lawrence made it a priority to change her outfits quickly, keep a smile on her face and always avoid complaining, which led the clients to book her for repeat jobs.

“I was able to slowly build up a roster,” Lawrence said, adding that her salary didn’t always show her career growth. “I was hitting a ceiling. I was getting paid, on average, between £150 a day — that could be like $175 — up to £300. That’s [for] a full day of work.”

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Lawrence further claimed that many of the brands — none of which she identified on Wednesday’s episode— that “pay you less, make you work harder.”

“They really do,” she said. “When you work for a brand like that, you have to wear 80 T-shirts of different colors. All you do is step into the studio, [pose] front, back, side [and] change. The changing room will be right there, and you don’t even get to talk, really. You’re a literal living mannequin. They don’t really care about anything else.”

According to Lawrence, some brands also “cut our faces off” from the final photoshoots.

“We get paid significantly less when that happens,” she claimed. “Because you’re not getting your hair and makeup done at the beginning of the day, you actually work more hours. It’s very hard to give yourself a promotion in that industry unless you move up the ranks in the modeling agencies.”

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Lawrence eventually found a steady gig with Aerie, signing a “rolling contract.”

“That was renewed every year for the last five-ish years,” she said. “It started out when I worked with Aerie on a shoot-to-shoot basis, but when I became the face of the brand and I was going out on tour, [and] I was able to negotiate a little bit. … I was feeling very comfortable [and] there was a point where I had a million dollars in the bank.”