How Golfer Paige Spiranac got naked on her own terms to liberate herself from nude photo leak that almost broke her
In the heydays of social media, no private information is really 'safe' from public view. Who knows these better than celebrities and social media sensations? More often than not, it's some loved one who betrays the trust. Take the instance of golf player-turned Instagram influencer Paige Spiranac. A photo that was leaked online led to so much harassment. However, Spiranac could fight and come out of the situation on her own terms. It was not easy, though.
The golf star garnered fame for posting trick shot videos on Instagram and became the "OG Insta golf girl" with an army of around 2 million followers.
Spiranac recently got candid on the horrors of having one of her private pictures leaked online, while speaking on her new podcast 'Playing-A-Round'. The 26-year-old shared that she felt 'violated' when someone she cared about had posted the picture. She discovered the nude photo leaked online and then, harassment started.
Spiranac finally felt liberated after deciding to get naked on her own terms while doing a photoshoot for Sports Illustrated. "I was nude, I was completely naked. That was the best moment for me," she shared as per reports from the Daily Star.
"I felt so empowered and I was like, ‘OK, if I’m going to do this, I’m doing it on my terms and I took it back, I took my body back. That was the moment I won, right there, when I did Sports Illustrated Swimsuit and I had my t**s out," she added. She revealed that it had helped her get a closure on the terrible chapter in her life.
Spiranac also admitted that she had sent the nude photo, trying to please the guy that she was dating at the time. However, once they had broken up, she was horrified to learn that he had shared it with his friends. Many strangers started to message her post seeing the private picture. There were blackmails, threats and also unsolicited pictures of men’s genitals.
During the discussion, Spiranac broke down in tears and revealed that she was subjected to a campaign of harassment and abuse. "I would wake up every single day, I would check my phone and be like, ‘Am I going to be on TMZ today? Am I going to be here, am I going to be there?" she shared.
"It gets brought up again, and brought up again and it keeps also reminding me of this guy and what he did to me and all of this trauma. Every life event was also tied into that, which was super traumatic for me," she revealed.