Victoria Henley Speaks Out Before ANTM Netflix Documentary: “It Was Quite Dark”
- Brandon West
- 19 minutes ago
- 3 min read
As Netflix prepares to pull back the curtain on America’s Next Top Model, one former contestant is sharing her truth.
Victoria Henley, who competed on Cycle 19 of the iconic modeling competition, has published a deeply personal blog post ahead of the February 16 premiere of Netflix’s upcoming documentary, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model. While she says she did not film an interview for the project, she admits she’s just as curious as everyone else about what will be revealed.
“I’ve been getting a lot of messages asking whether or not I am featured in this documentary,” Henley wrote. “While I did not sit down for an interview with anyone, my answer is: your guess is as good as mine. Who knows? I guess we will have to watch and find out.”
The documentary trailer hints at long-awaited conversations about the show’s more controversial behind-the-scenes moments, and Henley did not shy away from addressing what she describes as the “very dark underbelly and nefarious acts which took place behind the scenes.”
“As someone who went through the ANTM machine…trust me when I say: it was quite dark,” she shared.
Still, Henley’s perspective is layered. She makes it clear that despite the trauma she associates with the experience, she also feels gratitude for the doors the show opened. “Over 150,000 people auditioned for my season and Tyra personally vouched for me to be on the show,” she wrote. “I’m really thankful to her, to this day.”
But the cost, she says, was steep.
Henley described signing “crazy NDA’s” and a contract that was “several hundred pages long,” calling it “probably the most deeply troubling thing I’ve ever read.” She also recalled extreme sleep deprivation, isolation, and what she believes were manipulative production tactics designed to heighten drama.
“The constant lack of sleep kept me an emotional basket case, just the way they needed it for a good reality show,” she wrote. She also alleged that food would go missing, contributing to dramatic weight loss that became part of her storyline. “Weight began falling off me… I was a skeleton, and thus ‘Anorexic Victoria’ became a big storyline of my season.”
Henley says the psychological toll followed her home. “By the time I got home, I weighed 89 pounds, and I was an anxious, insecure, paranoid, wreck.” She also faced online bullying both for being “emaciated” and later for gaining her lost weight back.
Despite everything, Henley says she does not carry resentment. “Somehow I don’t feel animosity at all toward any of them. As twisted as it may be, I feel nothing but gratitude.” She credits the show with launching a global modeling career and allowing her to build a business mentoring aspiring models. “I like to think I’m a mentor that would never make someone feel even close to how the ANTM machine made me feel.”
Her conclusion is both reflective and cautionary. “I’ve lived a life that I largely dreamed about as a young girl. But it all came at a cost.”
With the documentary’s release just days away, Henley says she’s “cautiously excited” to watch it unfold.
Want the full, unfiltered version of Victoria’s story in her own words? Read her complete blog post for more details about her ANTM experience and where she stands today.
Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model premieres February 16 on Netflix.