The model and actress was in Cannes in May, when she posted ‘triumphantly free’ pictures
Emily Ratajkowski says ab photos would ‘stir up’ controversy: ‘Almost didn’t post this’
Emily Ratajkowski has revealed that the backlash to an ab-exposed photo she posted in Cannes this year had been so severe that she was reconsidering posting nude photos online.
Appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the 26-year-old model, actress and singer talked about her Côte d’Azur trip this summer, but did not reference the controversial picture of her in a polka dot bikini.
“My tour manager totally teased me about taking naked photos of myself … I’m thinking, ‘Are we gonna really get into this shit today?’” Ratajkowski said. “I’m not completely comfortable doing that but I thought, ‘Why not?’”
She said she was keen to post the picture, but worried that there could be “heat” for wearing a polka dot bikini. “I was like, ‘Oh shoot, I’ll wear this little string bikini and I’ll do this … and then it would never be seen in pictures.’”
But once she had shared the picture online, she did not have to worry about the same concerns she had when getting ready for the trip. “Even in Cannes, they were pretty playful. The photographers, all the handlers were like, ‘Emily, here’s, like, where you can do your shots if you want,’” she said.
Ratajkowski has made a name for herself in the past couple of years by wearing very little clothing on the beach and at Hollywood events. Her Instagram account is filled with photos of her naked except for a pair of pink sunglasses and high heels. And earlier this year, she posed in a bejewelled thong.
Ratajkowski said she was not bothered by her style as long as she was happy with it, pointing out the in-depth research it took her to be able to post so many racy photos.
“I’m actually thinking of putting it all out there,” she said. “I’m a celebrity and people think that it’s super easy to just move in, go to a beach, pose in a bikini and put your collection of photos online and leave. That’s not how it works.”
In an interview with the Daily Mail last year, she said that having nudity on her social media was just an expression of herself. “Maybe people want to know what you look like naked,” she said. “When I post naked things on Instagram, it’s not because I think I’m going to get naked every day.”
Stephen Colbert, the host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, meanwhile, quizzed Ratajkowski about her experience with a particularly outspoken Twitter user, Marco Rizzuto, who had a sexist opinion that women getting hands on with each other was “exactly what to do, [getting] up and embracing the full female body and embracing each other”.
When he asked her if she was offended, she said: “It’s almost more fun to go, ‘No, that’s kind of why I like it!’”
“I would say it was most taken out of context and also used as a way to demean me and make fun of me.”