Before she became famous for appearing nude in the music video for Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” in the summer of 2013, model Emily Ratajkowski did a nude photoshoot for a New York photographer named Jonathan Leder. Last month, Leder released a book of Polaroids from the shoot, Leder/Ratajkowski. The book is published by Imperial Pictures, Leder’s production company. As The Washington Post reports, yesterday, on Twitter, the 25-year-old model revealed that the majority of the photos in the book were published without her permission, calling the project “a violation.”
“I’ve been resisting speaking publicly on the recently released photos by Jonathan Leder to avoid giving him publicity,” she posted on Twitter. “But I’ve had enough.” She claims that five of the photos taken during the shoot, at a house in Woodstock in 2012, were used for their intended purpose, an “artful magazine” that she doesn’t name, but the rest of the photos in Leder/Ratajkowski — there are 71 in total — were published without her permission. “These photos being used w/out my permission is an example of exactly the opposite of what I stand for,” she continued on Twitter. “Women choosing when and how they want to share their sexuality and bodies.”
Imperial Publishing’s website — which is selling the book for $80 — calls Leder/Ratajkowski “a book of supernaturally sensual photos.” You can practically hear the heavy breathing of a 15-year-old horndog in the rest of the description: “‘She was very, shall we say, comfortable with her body,’ Leder writes in the foreword. ‘And as far as shoots go, I would say it was fun.’ By the looks of it, she was having a good time, too. Whatever the vibe was during their two nights together, Leder/Ratajkowski is the document. It’s a rare glimpse at a natural-born star on the verge of exploding.”
According to Imperial, the photos are also slated to appear at Castor Gallery in Chelsea in February, although there’s no mention of the exhibition on the gallery’s website.