Did Robin Thicke grope Emily Ratajkowski's bare breasts? Model alleges sexual assault
Supermodel Emily Ratajkowski recently released her book 'My Body', and it is already making headlines for some of the shocking allegations made by her. In the book, the 30-year-old model claims that she was sexually assaulted by R&B singer Robin Thicke back in 2013. The alleged incident happened during the filming of 'Blurred Lines', Thicke's explicit music video starring Emily Ratajkowski. In the video, the supermodel appears topless in several scenes, wearing only a skin-toned thong, which gives the appearance that she is naked.
The video, which featured Pharrell Williams and rapper TI as well, garnered a lot of controversy after its release for promoting the date rape culture. Now, Ratajkowski has claimed that she was groped by a slightly drunk Robin Thicke, who reached from behind and fondled her bare breasts with both hands, out of the blue. "Suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt the coolness and foreignness of a stranger's hands cupping my bare breasts from behind. I instinctively moved away, looking back at Robin Thicke," the model-actress wrote in her book. The incident left her badly humiliated as she suddenly "felt naked for the first time that day."
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Elaborating on the alleged molestation, Ratajkowski wrote, "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. [Director Diane Martel's] voice cracked as she yelled out to me, 'Are you okay?' I pushed my chin forward and shrugged, avoiding eye contact, feeling the heat of humiliation pump through my body." She further adds that the incident left her so embarrassed and humiliated, that she did not speak up at the moment in a desperate attempt to minimize what happened. "I didn't react – not really, not like I should have," she mentioned.
Ratajkowski's allegations were backed by set director Diane Martel, who told 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. I screamed in my very aggressive Brooklyn voice, 'What the f*** are you doing, that's it! The shoot is over!''
Martel also mentioned that Thicke had been drinking prior to the incident, and he later "sheepishly apologized" for the groping. "As if he knew it was wrong without understanding how it might have felt for Emily," Martel recalled, adding, "I don't think he would have done this had he been sober."
Martel also said that she wished to portray the idea of women's empowerment in the video by showing semi-naked women spurning the advances of men. But, she regretted, "With that one gesture, Robin Thicke had reminded everyone on set that we women weren't actually in charge. 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."
Despite her popularity skyrocketing after the release of the video, Ratajkowski dubbed it as the "bane of her existence." In fact, in a past interview in 2015, she admitted, "I wasn't into the idea at all at first. I think I came off as a bit annoyed in the video. Now, it's the bane of my existence. When anyone comes up to me about Blurred Lines, I'm like, are we seriously talking about a video from three years ago?"
Emily Ratajkowski is currently married to 'Uncut Gems' producer Sebastian Bear-McClard since 2018 and is a doting mother to her son Sylvester Apollo Bear. Meanwhile, Thicke is dating April Love Geary since 2014 and also shares three children with her. At the time of the shoot in 2013, Thicke was still married to actress Paula Patton. The couple separated soon afterward after she alleged abuse and infidelity by the singer.
Thicke, who did not comment on the allegations yet, was accused of groping by other women as well. In 2013, a socialite alleged that he groped her butt following the MTV VMA awards.