Content warning: this article about Emily Ratajkowski discusses sexual assault
In her forthcoming book My Body, model, and actress Emily Ratajkowski accused musician Robin Thicke of sexually assaulting her on a music video set for his controversial 2013 hit ‘Blurred Lines.’
In an excerpt shared in The Times, Ratajkowski, 30, alleges that Thicke groped her bare breasts from behind during the filming of the video. “Suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt the coolness and foreignness of a stranger’s hands cupping my bare breasts from behind,” she wrote.
Ratajkowski has since ruminated on the allegations coming to light in a new interview with Extra. The model noted her frustration that the story “leaked” before fans could read about it in the context of her book.
“What’s frustrating is I didn’t come out with it. It was leaked,” she says. “It’s been hard for me, I mean, I really like to have control over my image. And I wrote this book of essays to share the whole story, and all sides of it.”
She notes that the publication of the excerpt felt like a “clickbait frenzy.”
“All of a sudden, words like ‘sexual assault’ and ‘allegations’ are getting thrown around rather than people reading the actual essay,” she elaborated. “So again, I’m just looking forward to when people will be able to hear things in my own words.”
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“Everything I talk about is about the evolution of my politics,” Ratajkowski continued. “It’s not some big reveal, it’s not some crazy thing; it’s a part of a larger essay. I’m just excited for people to hold nuance and understand that.”
In another interview with People, the model delved into her decision to stay silent about the incident until writing about it for My Body, noting that coming forward with the allegations may have impacted her career. “I was an unknown model and if I had spoken out or complained, I would not be where I am today; I would not be famous,” she says.
Since the release of ‘Blurred Lines’, Ratajkowskii’s public profile has grown exponentially, a household name in the modeling industry, and an actress who has starred in the likes of Gone Girl and I Feel Pretty.
Robin Thicke is yet to respond to Ratajkowski’s essay.
My Body is set for release on November 9th via Macmillan. The collection of essays is described as “a deeply honest investigation of what it means to be a woman and a commodity… a profoundly personal exploration of feminism, sexuality, and power, of men’s treatment of women and women’s rationalizations for accepting that treatment.”
