Tuesday September 28, 2010
Brazilian Supermodel Says U.S. Agency Pressured Her to Have Abortion
By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, Latin America Correspondent
BRAZIL, September 28, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Brazilian supermodel Isabeli Fontana has revealed in a recent interview that she was pressured by a U.S. modeling agency to terminate the life of her unborn child when she became pregnant for the first time.
Fontana told Brazil’s Istoé magazine that after modeling during her adolescence, she decided to leave her mother’s home at the age of 18 and live with her boyfriend. When she became pregnant at the age of 19 with her first child, however, her agents in New York encouraged her to have an abortion, in order to save her career.
Noting that “adolescents are irresponsible,” Fontana said that “I didn’t think about anything. From the age of 15 years, I dreamed of having a child and a family as quickly as possible. My mother said I was punching at the point of a knife. My agents were saying: ‘Don’t have this child. You are very young. You are going to end your career.”
“Your agents wanted you to get an abortion?” asked Istoé.
“In the United States, it has been legalized,” responded Fontana, “and my agents there urged me to have an abortion. I was saying, ‘You are crazy, the thing that I want most is that child. I already love him.'”
Fontana’s son, Zion, is now 8 years old. Despite her agents’ warnings, and the birth of a second child, Fontana has continued to have a successful modeling career, appearing repeatedly on the covers of major fashion magazines in the USA and worldwide, and starring in multiple advertising campaigns.
See original interview:
Interview with Isabeli Fontana (Portuguese)