Emily Ratajkowski Details ‘Blurred Lines’ Video Shoot and More in New Book ‘My Body’

Credit: Kristin Callahan/Shutterstock

Emily Ratajkowski Details 'Blurred Lines' Video Shoot and More in New Book 'My Body'

Reclaiming the narrative. Emily Ratajkowski revealed new details about her career in fashion and Hollywood in her new book of essays, My Body. The Gone Girl actress, 30, wrote about the darker side of fame in the memoir, which was released on Tuesday, November 9. One chapter in particular deals with the aftermath of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" music video, which debuted in March 2013. A passage from that section of the book appeared online last month, but according to the I Feel Pretty star, the essay was leaked. "It’s been hard for me," she told Extra of the section, which was originally posted by the Sunday Times of London. "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, and I feel like it turns into a clickbait frenzy and all of a sudden words like ‘sexual assault’ and ‘allegations’ are getting thrown around rather than people reading the actual essay.” [jwplayer pShmuITz-zhNYySv2] In the chapter, the supermodel claimed that Thicke, 44, groped her while they filmed the controversial video. The Masked Singer judge has not publicly commented on the allegations. “I had a hard time writing that essay for a bunch of different reasons but ultimately I decided to include it in the book because my experience on the BL set and how I talked about it says so much about the evolution of my beliefs and politics,” Ratajkowski wrote via Instagram in October, explaining why she decided to write about the video nearly a decade later. “Most of my jobs at that point kinda sucked — I was either shooting e-commerce for online stores where I felt like nothing more than a mannequin or I’d be in lingerie while some middle aged photographs told me to pout. BL was different,” she continued in her Instagram post. “I was surrounded by women I liked and trusted. I had fun on set, being a sexy girl in a music video made me feel hot and cool and powerful. I told the world that the experience was empowering. In many ways it was. You’ll have to read the essay to fully understand the other sides to my experience.” In the full version of the essay, the In Darkness actress explained why she didn't initially speak out about what happened on set, adding that the video catapulted her to fame faster than anything she'd done at that point. Keep scrolling for more revelations from My Body: [podcast_block]

Credit: YouTube

She Originally Wanted to Pass on 'Blurred Lines'

The Inamorata designer initially told her agent to pass on the opportunity to star in "Blurred Lines," claiming that the original pay rate offered was "barely more than I got for shooting one day of e-commerce for Forever 21." She only agreed after the video's director, Diane Martel, sent her a personal note asking to discuss the project. Ratajkowski's agent later told her that "the rate had increased a decent amount with an added bonus for overtime," so she decided to do the video. "I figured, What the hell. Who watches music videos anymore anyway?" the London-born model wrote.  

Credit: YouTube

Why She Didn't Speak Out About Robin Thicke

Ratajkowski said that Martel and the other women in the video noticed Thicke's alleged groping, but no one said anything about it on the day of the shoot. "I didn’t react — not really, not like I should have," she wrote. "Neither did any of the other women. Despite how many of us were there and how safe I’d felt in their presence, we were in no position to hold Robin Thicke accountable on the set of his music video. We were working for him, after all. We paused awkwardly, and then we continued shooting."

After the shoot finished and the video became a hit, the California native still kept the incident to herself because she felt "defensive" and "protective" of the project. "I was also ashamed — of the fun that, despite myself, I’d had dancing around naked," she continued. "How powerful I felt, how in control. I wondered: What if I had yelled in Robin Thicke’s face and made a scene? Stopped the shoot? Maybe my big break never would’ve happened."

Credit: YouTube

How 'Blurred Lines' Changed Her Career

Though her memory of the "Blurred Lines" video is tainted by what she claims happened with Thicke, Ratajkowski still credits it with pushing her into a new level of notoriety. After the video debuted, she signed with an agency that had rejected her only one year prior, and she landed a photo shoot for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She also started making money via appearances and sponsored posts on Instagram, which she writes "paid more than what I had made in a week as a working model prior to the video."

Credit: Merrick Morton/20th Century Fox/Regency/Kobal/Shutterstock

The Mixed Blessing of 'Gone Girl'

Ratajkowski made her feature film debut in 2014's Gone Girl, but her feelings about her role were complicated by the fact that director David Fincher said he'd wanted to cast a woman that "men were obsessed with and women hated." The Spoils Before Dying alum was "proud" of her work, though she couldn't help remembering that she'd still been topless in the movie.

"The hairstylists on the set of Gone Girl warned me that it was time to stop doing nude photoshoots now that I was no longer just a model and muse — but their guidance was confusing," she added. "Hadn’t I booked the role, at least in part, because of the way I’d stripped for men like you, Steve?" (Steve Shaw photographed her nude for the cover of his Treats! magazine in 2012.)  

Credit: Broadimage/Shutterstock

A Teenage Boyfriend Assaulted Her

In one chapter, Ratajkowski wrote that she lost her virginity at age 14 during a nonconsensual encounter with her then-boyfriend, whom she calls Owen. In another instance, she claimed that Owen, who was two years older, raped her when she was drunk. Ratajkowski later found out that Owen, who died of a heroin overdose at 21, had been charged for raping another girl.