Who Is Mareva Georges? Husband Paul Marciano Accused Of Sexual Harassment

Model and actress Kate Upton accused the co-founder of Guess, Paul Marciano, of sexually harassing her during her first modelling stint at the age of 18.

Marciano denied all the allegations. “I have never been alone with Kate Upton,” he said.

“I have never touched her inappropriately. Nor would I ever refer to a Guess model in such a derogatory manner,” he added.

The business mogul added he whole-heartedly supported the #MeToo movement, but will not tolerate false accusations that seek to defame him.

“At the same time, I will not allow others to defame me and tarnish my reputation,” he said. “I have pledged to Guess and its Board of Directors my full support and cooperation with a fair and impartial investigation.”

Marciano is married to Miss France 1991, Mareva Georges, 48, who preferred to stay out of the public eye.

According to Earn the Necklace, Georges was born in May 29, 1969 in French Polynesia. At the age of 21, she was crowned Miss Tahiti and she secured the national title a year later. Georges followed in her aunt Edna Tepava’s footsteps, who was crowned Miss Tahiti in 1973 and Miss France in 1974.

Georges went on to compete in Miss Universe beauty pageant in 1991 and managed to secure a spot among the top 10 finalists. However, she lost in the end to Miss Mexico Lupita Jones, Wag Center reported.

After her loss, Georges continued to tour the world as a model and that is how she met her husband. She got married to Marciano in Nov. 24, 2016, in a private ceremony in Bora Bora. Together they have four children together — Ella Marciano, Nicolai Marciano, Ryan Marciano, and Gia Marciano.

Georges co-judged Miss France pageant in 2004 and Miss National in 2011.

Following a tweet on Jan. 31, expressing her disappointment at the fact that Guess continues to stand in support of Paul Marciano, Upton recounted the details of sexual harassment she had to face in the hands of Paul at the beginning of her fashion career, in an extensive interview with the Time magazine.

In the interview, Upton talked about Marciano trying to aggressively grope her and make indecent passes at her whenever she was scheduled to shoot for Guess.

"Despite doing everything I could physically do to avoid his touch throughout the meeting, he continued to touch me in a very dominating and aggressive way, grabbing my thighs, my arms to pull me closer, my shoulders to pull me closer, my neck, my breasts, and smelling me,” she said.

In one of the instances, he even forcefully kissed Upton.

“I remember not wanting to say ‘Get off of me’ because I didn’t want to open my mouth to say anything because I didn’t want him to be able to put his tongue in my mouth,” she said. “I had two options: do everything I could to wiggle away and avoid his pursuit, or punch the CEO of Guess. So I decided to just wiggle away.”

Things escalated to the point where the Guess’ co-founder starting stalking Upton, proposing to take her out to dinner, insisting on coming up to her hotel room and getting infuriating every time she said that her boyfriend was going to be present on the set.

Upton also alleged on multiple occasions she was fired from shoots soon after she rejected Paul’s advances. She added that being a young model, it broke her self-esteem.

“It took a huge toll on my confidence and self-worth,” she said. “I wanted to quit modeling. I constantly blamed myself after it happened: What am I doing to invite someone to treat me like that or grab me like that? I wondered if it was how I was presenting myself or what I was wearing.”

“I’m sick of being silenced and expected to sweep everything under the rug,” the model said adding, “I’m sick of being expected to laugh off these aggressive advances and accept the power imbalances that exist. I’m sick of being expected to endure all of this while being polite and professional through it all.”