MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CELEBRITY NEWS

Emily Ratajkowski. Activist. Mother. Siren: The hard-nosed warrior behind 'world's sexiest feminist'

Ratajkowski is proud of her body and doesn't shy from posting racy photos online, but she does not let that detract from her views as a feminist

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Jewish model, actress, and writer Emily Ratajkowski, 31, is no stranger to dating in the spotlight. From Andrew Dryden to Jeff Magid, she had romances in the public eye over the years. And now, Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt is rumored to be dating the model. However, Page Six reported, “They’re not Bratajkowski just yet — but stay tuned.” 

On the other hand, with the growing rumors with Pitt, many were quick to judge Ratajkowski for dating another man amid her public divorce from actor and producer Sebastian Bear-McClard; to whom she got married on February 23, 2018, and shares 18-month-old son Sylvester Apollo Bear. One of her many critics wrote, "Emily Ratajkowski left her husband and is already dating Brad Pitt? I thought she was upset about her husband cheating on her." However, Ratajkowski is more than just the divorce drama that surrounds her or Pitt's latest love interest. The social media influencer's career and work prove there's much to her beyond just labels. 

RELATED ARTICLES

'Hottest thing on the planet': Brad Pitt reportedly smitten by Emily Ratajkowski amid dating rumors

'This is not okay': Internet slams Emily Ratajkowski for posing NUDE in bathtub with toddler son

Emily Ratajkowski's divorce from 'cheating' husband

In July of this year, a source close to Ratajkowski told People that the duo, who tied the knot in a surprise ceremony at NYC's City Hall in 2018 after dating for a few weeks, have parted ways adding that "they [Bear-McClard and Ratajkowski] split recently. It was Em's decision." The 'Gone Girl' star officially filed for divorce, following claims that her husband cheated on her. In court records, as per Page Six, the model took the first step to legally end the marriage in a Manhattan Supreme Court on September 8. The record states that the divorce was contested, meaning there are issues to be litigated. 

The beginning of her story...

Born in London on June 7, 1991, to John David Ratajkowski, a Roman Catholic, and Kathleen Balgley, a Jewish, Ratajkowski holds German, Irish, English, and Polish-Jewish descent. Her mother is an English professor while her father was a high school arts teacher and now, a successful artist. When she was five, she and her parents moved to San Diego, as per Heyalma. Speaking about her parents in her autobiography 'My Body,' which got published on October 19, 2021, she said, "I knew that my parents had been on again, off again for years before my mother became pregnant with me and they decided to get married. I understood that even before I was born my existence was the essential glue of their relationship."

At 14, Ratajkowski signed with Ford Models and did several magazine shoots, and also had a few TV appearances, including a role on Nickelodeon's 'iCarly,' one of Ratajkowski’s first notable appearances. She enrolled at UCLA in the year 2009 to study art but soon left to pursue modeling full-time. She did music videos, appeared in Maroon 5's 'Love Somebody' and Taio Cruz's 'Fast Car.' But the turning point for her was in 2013, the year that made her quite famous via a music video, 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke, Pharrell, and TI, in which she appeared almost naked.

Following this, she appeared in more than a dozen movies like 'We Are Your Friends' opposite Zac Efron and 'Gone Girl,' in which she played Andie, the mistress of Ben Affleck’s character. The list also includes lead roles in movies like 'Welcome Home' and 'Cruize.' She was also named by Esquire as 'Woman of the Year' for 2013, one of '20 hottest sex symbols' by Rolling Stone, and made her way in Sports Illustrated's 50th anniversary swimsuit issue, according to Bestlife. 

Modeling career

Even though Ratajkowski started modeling at a tender age but it was only in 2015, she made her runway debut with Marc Jacobs at New York Fashion Week for the Spring/Summer 2016 collection, and later for Miu Miu, Bottega Veneta, Versace and Dolce & Gabbana, among others.

Emily Ratajkowski beyond the catwalk

But it's just not modeling. There’s much more to her than meets the eye. While setting the screen on fire with her steamy looks, she also uses her social media platform, including her Instagram profile, which has over 29 million followers, to speak about feminist issues. In 2016, she came out in support of Kim Kardashian after British journalist and TV personality Piers Morgan made derogatory remarks about a nude selfie posted by Kardashian. She tweeted by saying, "We are more than just our bodies, but that doesn't mean we have to be shamed for them or our sexuality."

In 2017, she participated in Women’s March, quoting Jewish writer Naomi Wolf, "The enemy is not lipstick, but guilt itself; that we deserve lipstick, if we want it, AND free speech; we deserve to be sexual AND serious--or whatever we please."

Ratajkowski is proud of her amazing body and doesn't shy from posting racy photos online, but she does not let that detract from her advocacy as a feminist. While 'Blurred Lines' got her popularity, she did not shy away from alleging that Thicke groped her on set while filming the music video. In her book she writes, “It was a very embarrassing, humiliating moment for me but I really never thought about it and brushed it off as insignificant. I think some part of myself, which I didn’t even write about really, also felt like, ‘well of course that happened, he was that guy. He was drunk on set. And why I point out the embarrassment that it shows about me, not him, I felt like it was very embarrassing for me, which I do write about because it then was so clear that I was just sort of this hired model whose body was being used, really like however these men wanted to use it.”

She has also famously told Busy Philips in 2018 that her "feminism started with her boobs". "Honestly, it all started with bοοbs," she said during an interview with Inquistr. "I developed very early and, you know, a lot of people were making me feel ashamed of my body. I had a very awesome mom — shoutout to all the awesome moms — and she was just, like, screw them. You don't need to apologize for anything. Wear whatever you want, your body is your body." She added that being comfortable with her body became her thing and her acting and modeling platform empowered her further.

Emily's all about business

The social media influencer put her contacts and following to good use after launching her clothing company Inamorata, which she started in 2017 with her childhood best friend from San Diego by selling a polka-dot bikini DTC. Her clothing line now includes 85 swim, apparel, accessory and lingerie products. It’s self-funded, marketed almost exclusively through Ratajkowski’s Instagram, privately owned and has been profitable since launch.

Emily is not afraid to get political

"I've always been political, even if I didn't have the kind of position where people cared what I thought; I would still be political. It would be the same for me if I was showing up at rallies just as a citizen. It's great that I have a platform where I can talk about these things, but I would be doing it at any capacity.," Ratajkowski said in an interview with Forbes, two years ago after she was quizzed on endorsing Bernie Sanders for president. 

She also boldly called out older Hollywood men who had been accused of being pervy. “There are consequences to being the type of person who tells the inconvenient story that no one wants to hear about a man that they liked or that they think of as powerful," she explained. “There’s this thing of like, ‘well not all men’, but if we’re able to name the men that are this way, there will be some kind of healing. And the truth is I don’t think it’s about good and bad men, it’s about a system that men exploit, sometimes subconsciously," she said refusing to go along with the 'not all men' brigade. 

Dating Brad Pitt

Surrounded by rumors of dating Pitt, who is still embroiled in his nasty divorce from Angelina Jolie, Ratajkowski appears to be bashed more than Pitt. One troll commented by saying, "Funny how emily ratajkowski made a tiktok video about old Hollywood men being pervy & dating young women only to end up dating brad pitt." While another wrote, "Oh no, #BradPitt is spending too much time with feminist #EmilyRatajkowski (who now regrets being "sexualized" as a model and music video performer)."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.