this is "nightline." tonight, dark waters. >> isn't that lovely? >> toxic chemicals in a town's water. a major corporation accused of making people sick. actor mark ruffalo now bringing this real-life story to the silver screen. >> that's chemicals, i'm telling you. >> putting a spotlight on the health and environmental risks of so-called forever chemicals. >> now i know what products and what products don't have it, and i'm still learning. plus emrata. emily ratajkowski. the supermodel turning heads, raising eyebrows, and redefining what it means to be a feminist. >> choosing to represent your body however you choose is an empowering thing. and smashing success.

♪ baby all i want for christmas ♪ how mariah's holiday staple "all i want for christmas is you" was just cemented in the history books. but first, the "nightline" 5.

good evening. thanks for joining us.

for years the waters in the town of parkersburg, west virginia held a dangerous secret, one that slowly came to light after decades of persistent digging by one determined lawyer. now his quest for justice explored in a new film that's drawing renewed focus on the everyday chemicals we may be exposed to. >> nothing but the truth, so help you god. >> i do. >> reporter: actor and activist mark ruffalo is waging a new battle on capitol hill. >> these chemicals don't respect political boundaries. >> reporter: he's sounding the alarm about so-called forever chemicals, manmade substances that don't break down in the environment. >> they are found in every one of you. >> reporter: his new movie "dark waters" exposes how toxic they can be and how common. >> du pont is knowingly poisoning 70,000 local residents for the last 40 years. >> who is paying for this failure to act? it's people like bucky bailey, who's here today. >> i was originally born with

just one nostril. limited vision in my right eye. >> reporter: bucky bailey's mother worked in the du pont chemical plant in 1980 in parkersville, west virginia making teflon. the non-stick surface for pots and pans. what bucky's mother didn't know at the time was that she was exposed to a chemical known as pfoa. >> she was working directly with the chemical while she was pregnant with me. >> reporter: which has now proven to be linked to cancer. >> the doctors, they were just completely scared. they said don't get your hopes up, he won't make it through the night. >> reporter: and i can't imagine what it must have been like for your mom to hear that and see that. >> two of the seven women, nearly 30% gave birth to babies that had the exact facial deformity that's your company already knew about. >> we're done here. >> reporter: "dark waters" tells the true story of robert bilott, the underdog lawyer who took on the industrial giant du pont chemical on behalf of people like bucky. >> i am a corporate defense attorney.

>> reporter: ruffalo plays the real-life lawyer who started out defending chemical companies, only to switch sides and file lawsuits against du pont. >> we were dealing with something that was not just affecting one family and one farmer and animals on one piece of property. but when i saw that this was a chemical that was in the entire community's water supply and in the blood of the entire country but nobody knew that. >> reporter: it was 1998 when west virginia farmer wilbur tenant asked robert bilott for help. something was killing his cattle. >> they started dying about 20, 30 minutes ago. >> reporter: he made these videos showing runoff from a landfill owned by the du pont chemical plant, one of the largest employers in his town of parkersburg. >> you saw these animals with tumors, with black teeth wasting away, and they're standing in white sudsy foaming water. and you could see it coming out of a landfill. i mean, to me at least it was pretty obvious, there was a problem here. >> how many did you lose?

>> 190. >> 190 cows. >> you tell me nothing's wrong here. >> reporter: as seen in the movie bilott sued du pont and in the process uncovered decades' worth of evidence that the chemical giant knew the pfoas in teflon and other products was toxic. >> i kept rereading and reading it over again thinking this really can't be what i'm reading. >> reporter: what was the ultimate truth he uncovered in those boxes? >> that du pont had knowingly poisoned us. they knew. and they went ahead and did it anyway. >> reporter: according to bilott and the epa, du pont's internal documents reveal that the company failed to disclose its dangerous effects in all the years the company was marketing teflon. >> let me ask you the old wa watergate question, which is what did du pont know and when did they know it? >> they knew it was causing cancer in animals by the 1980s. they knew it was in the drinking water of the community by the 1980s. and they'd even set their own internal standards of what's

safe. even though the government regulators didn't know about it. >> reporter: the lawsuit on behalf of wilbur tenant alleges du pont was dumping toxic chemicals. contaminating his water supply. killing hundreds of his cattle. tenant ultimately settled with du pont and the company admitted no wrongdoing. in a statement to abc news du pont says "nothing is more important than the safety of our employees and the communities in which we operate. unfortunately, this movie misrepresents things that happened years ago, including our history, our values and science. in some cases the film depicts wholly imagined events." >> we should want to nail du pont. all of us should. >> reporter: tim robbins, who plays ruffalo's boss, understands the moisture's potential impact. >> it really is up to us to make films like, this to spread information, to hold people accountable that are polluting our environment and making our people ill. >> isn't that lovely? >> reporter: knowing du pont had polluted the groundwater bilott sued the chemical maker over and

over to expose the truth. bilott launched a class action lawsuit after telling the epa in 2001 that du pont continues to release an essentially unregulated confirmed animal carcinogen into the air, land, and water. making many residents of west . as depicted in the movie, the lawsuit grew to 70,000 people, who for years had been wondering what was causing the health problems all around them. bilott's epic legal battles chronicled in his new book "exposure" helped focus worldwide attention to the wide variety of pfoas all around us. >> well, it coats the pots you cook with so the food doesn't stick. it protects the carpet your baby crawls on. you may also have it in your winter jacket, your skin lotion, even your makeup. we're talking about teflon. >> reporter: without admitting wrongdoing du pont settled the class action lawsuit for $70

million, part of which funded a scientific study that eventually found a probable link between pfoas and diseases like testicular cancer, kidney cancer, and thyroid disease. >> and you said your mom is now suffering illnesses herself. >> she is. she has thyroid disease, which is linked to the chemical -- >> jimmy: exposure. >> chemical exposure, yes. >> reporter: initially bucky was part of the class action lawsuit but dropped out after his birth defect couldn't be linked. it hasn't stopped him from becoming a fierce advocate. >> i don't want money. i want peace of mind. i want other people to have hope and faith that they can take a shower, they can take a drink of water around their water source and it be clean water. >> now i know what products and what products don't have it, and i'm still learning. i'm not going to put myself or my kids in waterproof clothing that has pfoa in it. >> reporter: in a statement to abc news, du pont says they do not make the chemicals in

question and agree that further action needs to be taken. they add they are eliminating the use of all pfas-based firefighting foams and support innovative pfas remediation technologies. taking on du pont and exposing the danger of forever chemicals has been robert bilott's life work. at the end of the movie it says after 20 years that you're still fighting. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: what does that mean? >> well, we still have people in that community that are getting diagnosed with cancer. and it's being found in drinking water all over the country. new communities are waking up almost every day to learn this is in our water and may have been there for a long time. >> reporter: du pont eventually settled over 3,000 lawsuits related to pfoas, paying out over $670 million. once again, without admitting wrongdoing. bucky bailey, who has a cameo in the film, has endured over 40

reconstructive surgeries on his face. ♪ happy birthday to daddy now 38, he's the father of two beautiful children. >> it's interesting to see just how it has shaped my life as a father of a 3-year-old and a 7-month-old now, just wanting the best for them and wanting them to have success. >> reporter: what's the overall message that audiences would walk away from having seen the movie? >> even one individual standing up could make a change. >> and "dark waters" is in theaters now. up next, emily ratajkowski making a splash with her modeling and now with her sexy message with a feminist twist.

hbut mike bloomberg became thele clasguy whoho mdid good. after building a business that created thousands of jobs he took charge of a city still reeling from 9/11 a three-term mayor who helped bring it back from the ashes bringing jobs and thousands of a three-term mayor who helped bring it back from the ashes affordable housing units with it. after witnessing the terrible toll of gun violence... he helped create a movement to protect families across america. and stood up to the coal lobby and this administration to protect this planet from climate change. and now, he's taking on... him. to rebuild a country and restore faith in the dream that defines us. where the wealthy will pay more in taxes and the middle class get their fair share. everyone without health insurance can get it and everyone who likes theirs keep it. and where jobs won't just help you get by, but get ahead. and on all those things mike blomberg intends to make good. jobs creator. leader. problem solver. mike bloomberg for president. i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message.

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you know, emily ratajkowski is a supermodel. known for baring it all. now on a fast track to be the next fashion mogul. speaking out tonight to abc's rebecca jarvis about her plans for the future and her take on feminism. >> reporter: she's a supermodel, actress, and businesswoman. emily ratajkowski, one of today's biggest celebrities and among the most influential women on social media. and on this night she's receiving an award for fashion entrepreneur of the year. taking selfies and catching up with stars like zendaya with her husband sebastian by her side. it's just one of the many highlights in what's been a

whirlwind of a career for 28-year-old ratajkowski, known to her fans as emrata. >> celebrating with amazement emily ratajkowski. >> so who is emily ratajkowski? >> she's pretty sassy, i would say. i think she's -- really represents confidence. >> reporter: with almost 25 million instagram followers, emily ratajkowski isn't just a social media star. she's influencing the culture with her own distinct message of body positivity and feminism. >> what is your brand of feminism? >> it's just about the ability to choose, to be whatever kind of woman you want to be. to dress however you want, whether it be in a burqa or a bikini. >> reporter: she's turning heads and raising eyebrows with her skin-baring posts. why do you think of nudity as expression yourself as a feminist? >> there are definitely people

who wa say that ould say that i case. >> i don't actually believe nudity is expressing yourself. i think choosing to represent your body however you choose is an empowering thing. but i don't think that every woman needs to be naked. it's about choice. >> you came to kim kardashian's defense when piers morgan was making derogatory comments about her posting a nude selfie. how important is it to you to really own the narrative? >> we shouldn't be taking women for how they represent themselves or their body or even their sexual past and judging them for those things because that's just not something we do with men. for me it's not even about taking the narrative into my own hands. it's about calling out moments where there is inequality and unfairness. >> reporter: ratajkowski burst onto the scene in 2013, starring in robin thicke's "blurred lines," which sparked controversy for its hypersexualized music video and lyrics. what did you think when the

controversy started around that video? >> i wasn't surprised, but the director and the dp were women. i felt very like comfortable with the sort of things that maybe some people deemed controversial. i understood what the idea was, and i liked it. >> what did you like about it? >> i liked that these women in this video were depicted as not taking themselves too seriously, not taking these men at all seriously, and that there was a lot of humor behind it, it was about having fun and women sort of embracing their bodies. >> and emily ratajkowski joins us now. >> reporter: her career quickly cat pulted from there. she started booking acting gigs. her first major movie -- >> oh, my god. >> reporter: -- "gone girl" starring as ben affleck's character's girlfriend. and as amy schumer's friend in "i feel pretty." >> you were dumped? >> can you stop saying dumped? >> of course. i'm sorry. i just assumed that you wouldn't have to deal with stuff like that. >> because of my body? >> reporter: all the while

gracing cover after magazine cover. were you always comfortable in your own skin? >> i grew up with the idea of bodies not always being about sex. i think for me what happened was when i did hit puberty there was this sort of moment where i was like oh, now people are uncomfortable with me. why are people now judging me because my body is different and makes them feel a different way? >> so how did you internalize that? >> it was hard, yeah. i think i felt really judged and i don't think that i always liked myself and i thought that oh, no one's going to take me seriously. even at the age of 12. but i had a really good mom who basically said to me that's their problem, not yours, and took that message to heart. >> reporter: she's done just that in almost every aspect of her career. and now running her own clothing company, inamorata. ratajkowski leveraging her massive following. the brand does 96% of its business via instagram. >> you post things and they sell out within minutes.

>> yeah. it's wild. it's really crazy. >> what ended up leading you to create your own company? >> it was sort of a long road with many different elements. definitely always been drawn to fashion. also i think doing a couple licensing jobs, deals, and seeing sort of like wow, they are able to really use my name and my image in a way that's super beneficial to their brand, why shouldn't i do that myself. >> reporter: ratajkowski self-funded the business and teamed up with her best friend, cat mendenhall, who has a background in fashion sales. >> we met in high school. she was a freshman. i was a senior. >> reporter: ratajkowski handles creative. mendenhall the business side. >> this is the start of orata. where it all begins. all the magic happens. it's her brand. no one else is telling us or dictating how things should be done. >> reporter: ratajkowski

sketches her ideas. they become reality. and her followers can't get enough. the business, how do you gauge its success? >> i mean, it's crazy successful. it's really fun because it's a completely new world. something's not selling, i find a way to wear it or share it on someone else and that item sells. >> reporter: we were invited behind the scenes of an inamorata photo shoot, where this two-woman team will curate all the looks. >> gorge. >> top three? >> yeah. >> no jewelry. >> no jewelry, no belt. no shoes, no shirt, no service. >> reporter: ratajkowski serves as the primary model for the brand. >> this is really pretty. >> when you look at top models like kendall and gigi, it's not just because of how they look. it's also how they're branding themselves. so i realize like oh, maybe i'm not bad at this and i should do it myself. >> reporter: even in her down time she says she's still

thinking about building her brand. >> we're on a walk with columbo. if i wasn't here would you be thinking about something related to the product or selling the product? >> i think when you're building a brand and a company you do need to kind building that brand and company. by the way, i am genuinely like pretty obsessed. good boy. with branding and with my company. so it isn't just like as much as i share him, it's the same thing as sharing inamora faechlt a. it feels natural. come on, bud. >> reporter: in this instagram-obsessed world ratajkowski seems to have mastered the art of sharing herr life while still finding quiet moments like these just for herself. for "nightline" i'm rebecca jarvis in new york. up next the holiday jingle smashing records and having everyone singing "all i want for christmas is you." ♪ all i want for christmas is you ♪ ♪ you, baby

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history. ♪ there upon the fireplace ♪ >> an early christmas mariah carey. guinness world records declaring "all i want for christmas is you" the highest charting holiday song on the u.s. hot 100 by a solort oh, my gosh, i'm in the guinness book of world records family. >> but that's not all. it's the most streamed track on spotify in 24 hours by a female artist. and its 20 weeks on the uk singles top 20 chart is also a record for a christmas song. that's three for the record book ithere's my career...'s more to me than hiv. my cause... and creating my dream home. i'm a work in progress. so much goes into who i am.

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