Emily Ratajowski
Emily Uncovered
From London girl to Californian model, actress and women’s spokesperson, Emily Ratajkowski takes the stage.
From the #metoo campaign running across social media to Time’s Up, a project which seeks to fight sexual harassment, a quick glance at the news and it is clear that women’s rights are firmly in the spotlight.
Following a number of recent allegations surrounding some of Hollywood’s key players, stars have flocked to back these campaigns, but for many big-name stars, speaking out about the right to be yourself isn’t anything new.
Model/actress Emily Ratajkowski, has long since been outspoken on women’s rights, writing in a 2016 edition of Glamour magazine:
“Our society tells women we can’t be, say, sexy and confident and opinionated about politics. This would allow us too much power, instead our society asks us to declare and defend our motivations, which makes us second-guess them, all while men do what they please without question.”
Firm in her belief that women should feel empowered to make their own choices, in 2016 Emily came to the defence of Kim Kardashian West who received negative feedback following a naked selfie. When the pair later met at a Justin Bieber concert they posed together topless – defying critics and generating lots of comments.
With her long brunette locks and dark eyes, Emily could easily pass for one of the Kardashian clan. And like her famous lookalikes, Emily too is taking the world by storm.
Appearing in the video, Emily has said of what was to become her big break:
“I just thought it was another job - a music video, kind of fun. There are a million music videos and a million things that go up on the web. It took even a while for me to really understand how big of an impact it really had because people still love it.”
While not the only music video she has appeared in, (Emily also starred in Maroon 5’s Love Somebody and Taio Cruz’s Fast Car), Blurred Lines is arguably Emily’s most defining role to date.
From this launchpad Emily went on to grow her modelling career with covers on Sports Illustrated, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Espana and Cosmopolitan.
And such is the power of the Ratajkowski look that many of the world’s leading brands and fashion houses, including Christian Dior, Chanel, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen, choose her to model their clothes and accessories.
With such a successful modelling career it would be easy for Emily to take things easy, however, keen to pursue an acting career, she continues to audition for, and win, interesting movie roles.
In 2014 she featured in the Oscar nominated, Gone Girl, a psychological thriller with Ben Affleck and Rosamunde Pike. And her first leading role came in 2015 drama, We Are Your Friends where she played Sophie alongside Hollywood heavyweight, Zac Efron.
A hitch in the plan…
Back in 2015 Emily became the victim of an iCloud hack. This breach led to naked pictures of her being put up for sale.
While undoubtedly distressing, Emily handled the situation in a pragmatic way, telling GQ Magazine:
“I’ve gotten over the fact I’ve got no privacy. This is not the right way to think, politically - that you ‘have nothing to hide’ - but I always hated when I was growing up how people would really freak out about paparazzi following them. It’s like, ‘Well, that’s the job and the profession that you’re in’. That sucks but that’s not the thing I’d really love to battle.”
Self-possessed and confident in her skin, despite this gross invasion of her privacy, Emily has moved on and is keen that women should feel able to exercise their own choices.
Posting on Instagram Emily said:
“Female sexuality and sexiness, no matter how conditioned it may be by a patriarchal ideal, can be incredibly empowering for a woman if she feels it is empowering to her”.
What the future holds…
With such passion for women’s issues it is clear that Emily will continue as a spokesperson and recent projects include working with the charity, Planned Parenthood, which delivers sex education and information on reproductive health.
Whatever the future holds for Emily, with an Instagram following of some 16.4 million, it is clear there is an audience for what Emily does next.