The Tribune

By TRIBUNE REPORTER

REVA Steenbergen is still traumatised by her encounter with Peter Nygard, so much so she chokes up remembering the events that changed her life 29 years ago.

The 52-year-old Canadian is one of 46 women who have accused Mr Nygard of rape in a US class action lawsuit. They are seeking punitive and exemplary damages for the distress the fashion mogul allegedly caused them.

Ms Steenbergen’s experience mirrors that of other women who say they were lured to Nygard Cay - and other properties of Mr Nygard around the world - with a promise of a lucrative modelling career, only to find themselves in the grip of a man who made them perform degrading sex acts against their will.

Ms Steenbergen’s story of the incident begins when she was a 23-year-old aspiring model settling down in Toronto after stints as an exotic dancer and a “Penthouse Pet”.

Ms Steenbergen - who went on to become the author of books about abuse - told The Tribune: “A guy that I had known for several years, his name is Derick, we would get together once in awhile because when I lived in downtown Toronto and settled down and got off the road I used to throw parties for people. So, Derick was one of these people and one day he said to me, he goes, ‘I think you would be perfect for this guy Peter Nygard.’ He started telling me Peter Nygard treats women really well, he gives them clothing, he wants to take them to The Bahamas, they have photographers waiting, there is modelling gigs happening, it’s just absolutely like a beautiful time. I thought this sounds good. I thought I was meeting a guy and that this guy was like (someone) I would be with or something.”

Ms Steenbergen said Derick later brought Mr Nygard to her Toronto apartment.

“(Derick) was telling me my house needed to be a certain way, that I needed to be a certain way and I thought what is all this pretentious (expletive) about,” she said. “(Nygard) came in my apartment, he met me, he said I’m going to be in the magazine, I’m going to be on the front cover, that he could guarantee me a spot inside, that you’re exactly what I’m looking for, I want you to come to the factory (in Toronto), I want you to pick out three outfits and he told me all about the amazing trip I would have.

“In Toronto I go to this factory, I pick up these silk fabrics, I’m getting ready to go with this big famous guy, I’m in awe. I’m thinking this is amazing, what a great opportunity for me now that I’m off the road, and I’m a model I’m going to further my career.”

Ms Steenbergen said she and Mr Nygard flew on a commercial jet. The roundtrip was scheduled for ten days. She said it did not take long, however, before she became worried. When she arrived in New Providence, she claimed Mr Nygard took her passport and identification cards “for security reasons”.

“Things went horribly wrong,” she said. “He starts to get more cruel as we land and as soon as we get into the car and we’re on our way he’s not nice anymore and I’m thinking (what’s going on)?

“I’m a very bubbly, empathetic person and I don’t like people who take advantage of people (so I reacted). When I got (to Nygard Cay) I ended up being intercepted by a girl named --- and she started telling me ‘you need to calm down, don’t be upset, I need to give you the rundown on what’s going on.’ I said what’s going on here because you could see something wasn’t right. He had another woman there and I didn’t expect another woman to be there. Next thing you know I arrive and I’m behind this gate, I’m outside with this woman and I’m looking at this gate and I’m thinking ‘oh jeez, how in the hell do I get out of here’?”

Ms Steenbergen claimed she stayed at Nygard Cay for four days against her will.

“He’s got this woman and she tells me ‘well, I’m going to have sex with him tonight so that you don’t have to’ and I say ‘excuse me?’ I said ‘I’m not having sex with anyone.’ I became defiant and when I became defiant I was treated really bad and all I remember is that when he would have an orgasm he would just scream, like just yell and I remember being downstairs and I could feel it right now as I’m telling you, gripped with (expletive) terror because I knew I had to go up there and have sex with that (expletive) monster so that’s what I did, I ended up going up there having sex with that person, doing my best, fighting my damnedest to get the hell out of there and I got out.

“I made such a fuss that I wasn’t going to be violated, so I just pulled out all the stops and I was defensive, I was nasty, I did everything and anything I could to stop it from happening and twice I was raped by him, two different nights I succumbed, I had to deal with it, I let myself be violated and eventually I got out of there.”

Ms Steenbergen says she made enough of a ruckus to be allowed to leave the property.

“After the fourth day, ---, she ended up driving me t to the airport to go on standby, to go home,” she said. “She ended up smashing into the back of a truck. The truck was down. We were parked by somebody’s house. She was crying because she was afraid to talk to Peter. This guy named Billy who owns a dive shop, stopped on the side of the road and saw us and said ‘what’s going on?’ I filled him in about Peter Nygard, he put me in the van and brought me to his house which was right on the water and he had about two other roommates but these guys were disgusting so I only lasted two days there. From there I went to the casino and then I ran into these people from Mission of the Shark…(I stayed with them before I left the island). I just stayed there because I couldn’t get a flight, couldn’t do anything and I had no money because I went down there not thinking any of this would happen.”

Ms Steenbergen said the experience changed her life.

“When I got out of there that whole situation traumatised me,” she said. “It’s never left me. I’m 52-years-old and that incident will remain with me until the day I die, that’s how much it affected my life. At that moment in time, I didn’t trust anymore. All of a sudden everything changed. I was always a very carefree, independent woman and I was never abused by men. That was a violation of me, my humanity, my civil rights. I didn’t go down there thinking i would have sex with Peter Nygard. That never crossed my mind.”

American investor and hedge fund manager Louis Bacon has partially funded the US class action lawsuit against Mr Nygard.

Ms Steenbergen claims she has never spoken or met him nor had she spoken or met his Bahamian attorney Fred Smith until a week before her interview with The Tribune.

She said she learned of the class action lawsuit on Twitter.

“I was on Twitter because that’s where I’m always at,” she said. “Next thing you know… I see there are victims who have come forward in a lawsuit and I’m thinking well, the same thing happened to me. I responded under the tweet of a person who said ‘this isn’t true and is just a part of a scam.’ I said I don’t think so because hell it happened to me and I responded at another place on Twitter. I got in touch with an investigator, then I got a phone call back and all the rest is history.”

Mr Steenbergen said she never spoke to Mr Nygard again after she left his property and never thought she would have the chance to get justice for what she says happened to her.

“I was enamoured thinking this was some big famous guy and I’m going to get more publicity, more things, modelling and my pictures were going to be in his catalogue as he promised me,” she said. “You have no idea what this feels like for me. As far as he’s concerned, damn straight I never thought I would be able to ever have a voice, to be even having a voice that was then perpetuated by other experiences that followed this.”