Since 2017 countless women have unsilenced themselves, speaking out against their sexual abusers and forming solidarity with one another through the socio-political movement Me Too. Many celebrity and everyday women alike have shared their experiences of sexual harassment, assault and coercion publicly, banding together to call out men who were perpetrators and/or complicit.
Actresses Rose McGowan, Alyssa Milano, Lupita Nyong’o, and America Ferrera are just few of many famous women that voiced their #MeToo stories, using their platforms to fuel change within society. Model and music video girl Emily Ratajkowski is now adding her voice to the #MeToo conversation, opening up about an inappropriate experience with R&B singer Robin Thicke.
In her upcoming memoir My Body, the 30-year-old model accuses Thicke of sexually assaulting her while on the set of his Blurred Lines music video back in 2013. The hit music video featured Ratajkowski as the lead video model, closely working with Thicke on camera while scantily dressed and topless.
While filming the shirtless part of Blurred Lines, Ratajkowski chest was unwantedly groped by Thicke.
“Suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt the coolness and foreignness of a stranger’s hands cupping my bare breasts from behind,” Ratajkowski told the London’s Sunday Times. “I instinctively moved away, looking back at Robin Thicke.” Ratajkowski alleges the singer also appeared to be “a little drunk.”
Despite Ratajkowski humiliation and uncomfortability, she “minimized” the situation.
“Ratajkowski says she tried to “minimize” what happened. “I pushed my chin forward and shrugged, avoiding eye contact, feeling the heat of humiliation pump through my body,” she wrote. “I didn’t react — not really, not like I should have,” as noted by The Cut.
Although the supermodel didn’t respond as she felt she should’ve, the Blurred Lines director Diane Martel—who is also a woman—actively chastised Thicke for fondling Ratajkowski while on set.
As noted by The Cut, “Recalling the incident, Martel, who shot the video with an all-female team aside from the three male vocalists, said she ended the shoot after Thicke groped Ratajkowski. “I screamed in my very aggressive Brooklyn voice, ‘What the fuck are you doing, that’s it!! The shoot is over!!’”
Thicke did apologize for the incident at the time, however Martel blames the alcohol for the sexual assault even occurring and his obliviousness to the sincerity of his actions.
Martel said Thicke apologized “sheepishly … as if he knew it was wrong without understanding how it might have felt for Emily,” according to the Times. “I don’t think he would have done this had he been sober,” Martel said.
Thicke is the latest to be swept up by the #MeToo movement due to wrongfully interacting with a woman. Mega Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein, actor Bill Cosby, MTV’s Catfish Nev Schulman, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh are just a few of the men held accountable thanks to #MeToo.