What started out as an unpaid, no-frills shoot with Anna Delvey and a few bunnies has led to days of controversy and accusations.

Now Delvey is speaking out about the incident that led to allegations of animal abuse.

Known as the “Fake Heiress” for being found guilty of grand larceny and other charges in 2017, the former “Dancing With the Stars” contestant agreed to a shoot with photographer Jasper Regan Soloff on Aug. 3. The pair had worked together before and he approached her again even though a brand was not involved.

In an interview Wednesday, Delvey said she complied, knowing that she would have already had her hair and makeup done for another shoot that was scheduled for earlier in the day.

“He texts me incessantly [to work together]. I was thinking that I was being nice to a young photographer because I’m not getting anything from this photo shoot,” Delvey said.

Suggesting that bunnies would be used in the shoot, the lensman was said to have asked Delvey to post on her Instagram that they were looking for bunnies, according to her. One woman offered a bunny, and another person, Christian Batty, an assistant at a hair salon, offered to borrow a few more from a friend, Delvey said.

After the shoot, Delvey posted a few images, which prompted some to ask what became of the bunnies. Delvey replied that they were “safe at home.”

During a joint interview Wednesday with Delvey, her friend and People’s Revolution founder Kelly Cutrone, recalled, “In Anna’s mind, they are safe at home. She doesn’t know anything about this. I’ve done a million photo shoots. My two dogs were in a Dior shoot once. I’ve never said, ‘Show me proof that the animals have been returned.’ Who wouldn’t return the animals from where they borrowed them?”

As it turned out, Batty did not have a friend with bunnies, but he got them from a woman who was looking for a home for the animals on Facebook Marketplace. After the shoot, Batty abandoned the bunnies in Prospect Park and vegan food blogger Terry Chao found them as she walked by. Chao, who is said to have her own bunny, recognized the colorful leashes from a photo that Delvey had posted on Instagram Thursday. She also had allegedly been approached by Batty for bunnies before the two-hour shoot.

After Delvey faced backlash for being mistakenly blamed for animal abuse, Batty posted an apology on Instagram owning up to abandoning them in the park and explaining that they are now safe. Batty, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, has since taken down his Instagram account.

Contrary to media reports, the shoot was not in Prospect Park in Brooklyn but near the Franklin Street subway stop in TriBeCa. Delvey said she initially suggested that the shoot be done on the enclosed terrace of her apartment building in the Financial District.

The German-born Delvey, whose given name is Anna Sorkin, was released from prison in 2021 and remains under house arrest, since her immigration status remains in limbo. Delvey said she checks in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials monthly, as required. “I would be extremely devastated if something like this would affect my status,” she said.

Still caught in the crossfire, Delvey posted to her 1 million followers that as talent she was not responsible for sourcing or returning animals. She also said she has made a $1,000 donation to Chao’s charity of choice. Delvey, who said Wednesday that she had not left her apartment in the past 24 hours, also notified her followers that she is facing death threats.

Pointing out that she and Delvey are animal lovers, Cutrone said, “It’s a crazy state of humanity, when people are threatening people’s lives over a rescue bunny, especially when she had nothing to do with it. Anna has worked incredibly hard since she’s been under house arrest to move her life forward. I can say that from personal experience. At what point is a person allowed to live their life? She had no part [in] this.”

Delvey pointed out that leaving animals in public places is a misdemeanor, adding, “People report me for everything all the time. I just don’t want it to escalate [so] that I would be accused of a crime.”

She was not aware that a change.org petition was started Monday to report her and Batty to New York City police commissioner Edward Caban, who is misidentified. Caban stepped down in March and was succeeded by Jessica Tisch. Cutrone said that Delvey will not be “avalanched” by this incident and that they have the text messages and other exchanges about the shoot for documentation.

Chao had not responded to a media request Wednesday afternoon.

Soloff issued the following statement from his attorney Gary Adelman of the New York-based firm Adelman Matz, “Jasper had no knowledge or input as to how the bunnies were obtained or what happened to them after the photo shoot. It was Anna’s hairstylist Mariah Molina’s friend Christian [Batty], who brought the bunnies, and he has already admitted to wrongfully letting them go. Thankfully, the bunnies are safe and being cared for. Jasper is a huge animal lover, has grown up and cared for animals, such as birds, cats, dogs, parakeets, iguanas and has a lovely dog named Tinkerbell, and would never be involved in the harming of any animal.”

Molina and Batty are not friends, but worked together at a hair salon, according to Cutrone.

Acknowledging how some have suggested that “this is just another PR stunt,” Cutrone said, “No, this is not a PR stunt. This is someone’s life. The loser influencers, who were so quick to jump on this [story] should really check themselves. Reddit is the most dangerous community in the world. They feel that they can come in and just take a whack at people,” adding that some have no understanding of defamation and liability.

Suggesting that some members of media use Reddit as a source for news, she said, “Journalists need to stop being put under pressure to file something salacious so quickly. They need to stop to really look at the story they are writing, and the inaccuracies that can come from something like this. This has happened to many brands and many people. It really should be regulated, because everything is off to the races.”

She added, “There used to be checks and balances that went into writing a story. Even if it was salacious, it made people feel really good about where they were getting their sources from. Now it’s like ‘noyogurt117’ on Reddit. That’s really the underbelly of this.”

As for the dress that Delvey wore for the shoot, the label was Rumored.