Carol Alt was sexually harassed in the 1980s by men pretending to be photographers.

The Sports Illustrated icon - who appeared on the cover of the 1982 swimsuit issue - has revealed she was often approached by older men who would offer the opportunity to take part in photo shoots, which turned out to be bogus.

Speaking on Bill McCuddy's podcast, 'The Accutron Show', she said: ''There were a lot of not nice people. I had been stopped on the street many times. I was 18 and they would say, 'Oh my god, you look like a model,' and offer me shoots. They asked me to come with them right then to their studio.''

Although she had to navigate seedy behaviour when she was starting out, Carol was protected from the potential dark corners of the industry once she signed for a professional agency.

Remembering the best advice she was ever given, she recalled: ''The best advice my agency ever gave me was have the person call us. If they are legit they will call and you get the job. If they are not legit, they will never call.''

Carol was scouted when she was just a teenager before gracing the covers of several high profile magazines, including Vogue and her iconic Sports Illustrated shoot, and she went on to grace the cover of over 500 magazines making her one of the most successful models of the 80s.

She then decided to become an actress in 1987, starting with her debut in 'My First Forty Years'.

The 'Private Parts' star would still take a friend along with her to audition for films to make sure it was ''legitimate'' and not another way for men to prey on her.

She said: ''I was always smart because, if the agency sent you on an early morning to meet a producer, I always brought a girlfriend to stand outside the door.

''Funny enough, I auditioned for Steven Spielberg in a hotel room, but there were people there and I knew it was legitimate. You have to protect yourself and kind of let them know, and say, my friend is outside, can they come in, you do it innocently.''