Park Slope's Shandi Sullivan reclaims her story in Netflix's 'Reality Check' docuseries * Brooklyn Paper

"I really struggled at first when they asked me to do the documentary. I was like, I don't know if I want to do it. I'm probably just going to cry the whole time because I know what they're going to want to talk about. And that's exactly what happened. I cried the whole time."

"When the show first aired, we didn't have social media as we do now. So I felt very alone in interactions that I would have with people. But now everyone can reach out to me. Everyone can check in on me and see if I'm okay."

"There have been moments where I've just started crying because I just don't really know how to process it. For Sullivan, that digital connection has become its own kind of community - something she's been missing since she was forced out of her Brooklyn apartment last year."

Shandi Sullivan, a longtime Brooklyn resident who appeared on America's Next Top Model Cycle 2 in 2004, participated in Netflix's new docuseries 'Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model.' The documentary revisits a traumatic sexual assault Sullivan experienced during the original show's filming. After the docuseries aired, Sullivan received substantial outpouring of support from viewers through social media, contrasting sharply with her isolation during the original 2004 broadcast when social media platforms didn't exist. This renewed attention has translated into tangible assistance, with Sullivan raising nearly $20,000 to address her displacement from her Brooklyn apartment after 11 years of residence, medical bills, the loss of her cat Parker, and her dream of opening an animal sanctuary in Brooklyn.

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