Model Emily Ratajkowski, who rose to fame after appearing nearly nude in Robin Thicke’s music video for his song “Blurred Lines,” says she quit Hollywood because she “felt like a piece of meat” while working in the industry.
Ratajkowski told the Los Angeles Times that she is less willing to put herself in positions where she is vulnerable to “power dynamics and the power that is held by boys clubs,” and that that’s a big part of why she quit acting.
The model, who rose to fame after strutting around in the 2013 music video for Blurred Lines, landed her first big movie role in 2014 as actor Ben Affleck’s mistress in the film Gone Girl.
Watch Below:
After that, Ratajkowski set out to prove she was a “serious actress with longevity.”
“But I didn’t feel like, ‘Oh, I’m an artist performing and this is my outlet.’ I felt like a piece of meat who people were judging, saying, ‘Does she have anything else other than her [breasts]?’” she said.
The model added that by 2020, she was tired of making herself “digestible to powerful men in Hollywood,” so she fired her acting agent, commercial rep, and manager.
“I didn’t trust them,” Ratajkowski said. “I was like, ‘I can handle receiving phone calls. I’m gonna make these decisions. None of you have my best interest at heart. And you all hate women.’”
In 2020, amid the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, Ratajkowski stripped down to promote her lingerie brand while she was stuck in isolation during quarantine.
In 2021, Ratajkowski accused Thicke of groping her bare breasts on the set of the music video for his 2013 song, “Blurred Lines,” stating, “I was nothing more than the hired mannequin.”
“Suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt the coolness and foreignness of a stranger’s hands cupping my bare breasts from behind,” she said at the time. “I instinctively moved away, looking back at Robin Thicke.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.