Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova has sparked a criminal probe into a café that kicked her autistic sister out for “scaring customers,” according to local reports.
The 33-year-old beauty unleashed her rage on Facebook this week after a coffee shop ousted her 27-year-old sister Oksana, who has cerebral palsy and autism, for banging her head against the wall.
“Leave. You’re scaring all our customers away,” the café’s owner allegedly said, according to Vodianova. “Go and get medical help for you and your child. And then go out in public.”
A security guard at the café, which was empty at the time, also threatened to have them committed to a psychiatric institution.
“Go away, otherwise we call the mental hospital, ambulance and lock you in the basement,” he allegedly said.
The outraged supermodel, who is also an outspoken advocate for people with disabilities, detailed the encounter in a lengthy post, telling her fans the situation is “not an isolated incident.”
“This is the reality for all families raising children with special needs,” she wrote in Russian. “I find it hard to talk about it, but I understand that it is a signal to society that it is impossible not to hear.”
Russian authorities opened a criminal case against the Flamingo café hours after Vodianova’s post was published, the Independent reported.
The country’s investigative committee called the cafe’s actions an “outrageous incident.”
A “violation of human dignity with the threat of violence” carries a maximum jail term of five years, according to the paper.
Vodianova — who has modeled for Calvin Klein, Givenchy and Stella McCartney — thanked her supporters for drawing attention to the issue which helped launch the investigation.
“It happened just like a fairy tale when something bad and repulsive suddenly gives birth to something beautiful,” she wrote in another Facebook post.
