From Morrissey to Miley Cyrus: All the people who regret working with Terry Richardson

After being dogged by allegations of sexual assault for years, photographer Terry Richardson was dropped by Condé Nast publications, the publishing house that includes Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, on Monday. For many in the fashion industry, it's a move that couldn't have come soon enough.

But high-profile stars who have been shot by Richardson, who is known for his sexually explicit photographs, have previously spoken about their experiences of working with him. Here are the ones who regret their collaboration:

Miley Cyrus

Cyrus underwent quite the transformation in 2013, when she was presented as a rebellious pop star after making her name as the squeaky-clean Disney star Hannah Montana. The video she shot under Richardson's direction for her single Wrecking Ball contributed considerably to her new image, namely because, at times, she wore nothing but a pair of Doc Marten boots and licked a sledgehammer.

She came to regret it, telling media outlets including the Zack Sang Show: "That’s something you can’t take away, swinging around naked on a wrecking ball lives forever. I’m never living that down. I will always be the naked girl on the wrecking ball.” 

Lena Dunham and Audrey Gelman 

The Girls creator and star was close friends with Audrey Gelman, a former girlfriend of Richardson's at the time when Richardson shot a scantily-clad Dunham for V Magazine in 2012, when Girls's first season aired. 

A year later, Dunham's feminist principles were questioned by journalist Michelle Malkin after the actress chastised the public endorsement of singer R Kelly, who has been accused of sexual misconduct with underage women.

Dunham went on to describe the Richardson photoshoot as a "PR experience", adding, "You don't learn to say no overnight". Two weeks later, Gelman explained the situation from her perspective, also on Twitter, saying that Dunham "tried to see the good I saw in someone and we both have regrets". 

Lady Gaga

The Just Dance singer has collaborated with Richardson for years, with the pair releasing a photo book, Lady Gaga x Terry Richardson, in 2011, after spending 10 months together. However, in 2014 Gaga – a vocal advocate for sexual assault survivors and a rape survivor herself – scrapped a video that Richardson had directed for Do What U Want, a single she had released with R Kelly.

A leaked clip from the video showed Gaga, posing as a patient, asking Kelly, acting as a doctor, if she'll ever be ever be able to walk again. According to the New York Post, the RnB star replied: "Yes, if you let me do whatever I want with your body. I’m putting you under, and when you wake up, you’re going to be pregnant."

Morrissey

It may have been the burgers that tipped Morrissey over the edge, but the fallout between the miserabilist, skate brand Supreme and Terry Richardson suggested that the former Smiths frontman never liked the portrait taken of him anyway. 

Richardson was commissioned by Supreme to take photographs of Morrissey wearing a Supreme T-shirt for the brand in October 2015. But in February 2016, Morrissey posted on fan blog True To You apologising for the "enfeebled photograph issued this week by Supreme". The renowned vegetarian added that even before he learned that Supreme were "sponsored in part by the beef-sandwich pharaoh known as White Castle", he didn't want the image being used.

Morrissey wrote: "I considered the photograph to be fit only for a medical encyclopedia and I pleaded with Supreme not to use it."

In response, Supreme, who posted the image on billboards globally, said that the singer had been offered to return his fee, choose another image from Richardson's shoot that he did like or be shot again at Supreme's expense. He refused all three offers. 

Dianna Agron

The US Parents Television Council were left outraged by a photoshoot that Richardson did for GQ magazine in 2010, calling the resulting images "a near-pornographic display" that "borders on pedophilia". While the late Cory Monteith, who died in July 2013, is styled in jackets, coats and normal casual clothing, his co-stars Dianna Agron and Lea Michele were less well-dressed, and mostly just wore underwear for the shoot. 

Agron, who was 24 at the time, subsequently apologised for her involvement, writing a blog post that said: "Nobody is perfect, and these photos do not represent who I am". She said that she was asked "to play very heightened versions of our school characters. A 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' version. At the time, it wasn't my favorite idea, but I did not walk away."