Emily Ratajkowski Poses Nude For Harper's Bazaar: "The World Should Not Be Exclusive of the Ideal Body"

Updated on July 10, 2016 at 1:00 AM

Mona Kuhn | Harper's Bazaar

Emily Ratajkowski rose to fame as one of "those girls" in Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" video back in 2013, but these days, she's nabbing movie roles, fashion campaigns, and magazine spreads. Her latest, in the August issue of Harper's Bazaar, has Emily in the state in which she feels most comfortable: totally naked. She bares her body in front of a desert landscape (and on top of a horse) and isn't afraid to talk nudity in her accompanying profile; Emily opens up about sexuality, body shaming, and that infamous double topless selfie with Kim Kardashian. Read her inspiring quotes, then check out even more of her sexy social media snaps.

On hitting puberty: "I genuinely hit puberty before everyone. So I really was more sexual than my classmates. My teachers, my boyfriends, my parents' friends didn't understand how complex it all was. Because of third-wave feminism, I understood that there are all these f*cked-up ideals of beauty put on young women; that there was something to be scared about in the entertainment world. But yet the people I knew in my everyday life, they [didn't realize] their faux pas, their missteps, and since they knew me it was that much harder because the comments felt personal."
On her topless photo with Kim Kardashian: "A selfie is a sort of interesting way to reclaim the gaze, right? You're looking at yourself and taking a photo while looking at everyone. But also who cares? Kim's allowed to do what she wants. So I issued a series of tweets; she sent me flowers, thanking me, which was very sweet. We ended up running into each other and had this idea to take a similar selfie with our middle fingers up. Kim is someone who could be criticized for a lot of different things about what she represents, but to me it was an important moment to say, 'Even this person who you could criticize for all these different things doesn't deserve this response, right?'"
On the "ideal body" and the perceived objective of women who post sexy selfies: "The world should not be exclusive of the ideal body. It has to include all ideals, all bodies. The whole idea is that when Kim takes a nude selfie, she's just seeking attention. That's not the issue. A woman can be seeking attention and also make a statement. They don't need to be mutually exclusive."
On her personal social media strategy: "Some posts are more intentioned than others. That selfie with Kim was very intentioned, very direct. I had the tweets lined up for when it launched because I wanted those things to be what came with the image when the media started covering it. But then other times it's just a tool, you know? I'm a young woman who lives in a world of social media; I'll post boring things too!"
On not "apologizing for being beautiful": "That's something we really forget in this world, especially in my industry and being in the public eye as a female. There's this idea that if a man enjoys a photograph of a nude woman or if he likes your short skirt, he's taking something away from you. It's not right. Sex is normal. Desire is normal. Attention is normal, and that's okay. That's really what slut shaming is, right? A woman talks about having sex, and it's like, 'Well, a guy got to have sex with you, so you're stupid. You've given something up.'"