Emily Ratajkowski accuses Robin Thicke of groping her breasts on 'Blurred Lines' set: 'I was nothing more than the hired mannequin'
Erin Donnelly
Sun, October 3, 2021, 11:03 AM·3 min read
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Emily Ratajkowski accuses singer Robin Thicke of touching her bare breasts while filming the "Blurred Lines" music video. (Photo: REUTERS/Danny Moloshok)
Emily Ratajkowski says Robin Thicke crossed the line while filming the music video for "Blurred Lines," a Grammy-nominated song which critics say objectifies women and promotes rape culture.
The Sunday Times reports that Ratajkowski's upcoming book — My Body, out Nov. 9 — alleges that the singer groped her bare breasts on the set of the 2013 music video, in which she and two other near-naked models appeared alongside Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I.
The 30-year-old actress and model alleges that Thicke took her by surprise by touching her chest "from behind."
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"Suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt the coolness and foreignness of a stranger’s hands cupping my bare breasts from behind," she writes. "I instinctively moved away, looking back at Robin Thicke.
“He smiled a goofy grin and stumbled backward, his eyes concealed behind his sunglasses. My head turned to the darkness beyond the set. [The director, Diane Martel’s] voice cracked as she yelled out to me, “Are you OK?”
Though the alleged moment made her feel "naked for the first time that day," the Gone Girl star was “desperate to minimize” the situation. She reasoned that Thicke, who has spoken about his past abuse of drugs and alcohol, was "a little drunk" and "didn't seem to be enjoying himself in the same way" on set.
"I pushed my chin forward and shrugged, avoiding eye contact, feeling the heat of humiliation pump through my body,” she writes. “I didn’t react — not really, not like I should have.”
Diane Martel, who directed the video, corroborated Ratajkowski's account, telling the Times, “I remember the moment that he grabbed her breasts. One in each hand. He was standing behind her as they were both in profile.”
The model and actress claims Thicke appeared to be "drunk" during the alleged incident. (Photo: Getty)
Martel said she responded to the alleged assault by shouting at Thicke, who she claims was drinking, adding, “I don’t think he would have done this had he been sober.”
“I screamed in my very aggressive Brooklyn voice, ‘What the f*** are you doing, that’s it!! The shoot is over!!’” she told the U.K. newspaper, adding that she had taken measures to make women feel comfortable on the set.
"Robin sheepishly apologized," Martel says. "As if he knew it was wrong without understanding how it might have felt for Emily.”
According to Martel, Thicke's record company was told the shoot would be halted, though a "very professional" Ratajkowski assured her that "we could go on."
“We kept on and Emily was phenomenal," Martel told the Times. "She’s really the star of the video. She’s fully mocking him and the male gaze with her beautiful shape and ferocious energy. She’s playful, not seductive. And quite hilarious.”
In her book Ratajkowski says she didn't dwell on the alleged incident until she realized that Thicke, now a judge on The Masked Singer, had blocked her on Instagram.
"With that one gesture, Robin Thicke had reminded everyone on set that we women weren’t actually in charge," she says of her experience. "I didn’t have any real power as the naked girl dancing around in his music video. I was nothing more than the hired mannequin.”
Thicke has not yet publicly responded to Ratajkowski's allegations. Yahoo has reached out to his representatives for comment and will update with their response.
