Photographer David Loftus has worked with many stars over the years — but one unnamed celebrity’s behavior didn’t sit right with him.
“I’ve done people like Gwyneth Paltrow and they’re charming. Sometimes you get a shocker [like bleep],” Loftus, 60, said as the name was cut out during a September episode of the “The Go to Food” podcast. “[She was] wild. I shot her for Marie Claire … and not nice at all. They were just buying drugs on the shoot.”
Loftus explained the shoot took place at one of the magazine editor’s parents’ home on a river. As the “shoot got later and later,” the photographer claimed that the celebrity’s behavior continued to be “disgraceful.”
“Extraordinary arrogance, [she was] pulling coats off the rack, [saying] ‘I’m going to keep this’ and it would be like a 15,000 pound coat then throwing things in the river,” he claimed, noting that the looks were designed by Julienne McDonald.
On the river, there was an antique speedboat that the star allegedly damaged.
“And they had a beautiful antique speed boat on the river and there was an actress at the time called Margo Stilley,” he recalled. “She jumped into the speed boat in high heels and her heels went through the leather.”
Loftus further claimed that the star destroyed an antique book while doing drugs.
“Then I went into the toilet and of course, they wrecked the toilet because they were all doing coke. I was horrified,” he continued. “I looked down and there was a first edition of Wind in the Willows and they ripped out the first page to snort coke. Bad behavior beyond belief. I was furious.”
“It was so cross. I managed to track down a first edition and sent it to replace the one they [destroyed],” he explained. “They didn’t care, they were partying. They were so wild and they had their bits out. It was just grim.”
Loftus is an award-winning photographer best known for his work with chef Jamie Oliver and notable fashion spreads for Red magazine, Conde Nast Traveller, Soho House and more. In 2010, the British creative was named the 65th most influential photographer of all time by Professional Photographer magazine.