Tragic Details About Emily Ratajkowski

Emily Ratajkowski has been making waves in Hollywood for years. The actor and model started modeling professionally at age 14, and her career only blossomed from there. A year after she started at the University of California, Los Angeles, Ratajkowski left school to go all in on a modeling career. This move proved to be successful for Ratajkowski, and she began booking acting gigs, too, with a part on "iCarly," some music videos, and the Zac Efron film "We Are Your Friends" among her early credits.

Ostensibly, Ratajkowski's life and career seem great, but when looking a little deeper, it's clear that she's faced plenty of tragedy, too. While the model has become known for being an outspoken voice for women's rights, her passion for the topic has come from awful experiences, many of which happened when she was just an adolescent. Take a closer look at the tragic details about Emily Ratajkowski.

For better or for worse, the stunning Emily Ratajkowski has been aware of her good looks for as long as she can remember. Her parents placed an importance on physical appearance, and it affected her relationship with them. "Beauty was a way for me to be special. When I was special, I felt my parents' love for me the most," Ratajkowski wrote in her book "My Body," as reported by People. "My mother seems to hold the way my beauty is affirmed by the world like a mirror, reflecting back to her a measure of her own worth," she said.

Her beauty wasn't the only thing that complicated her relationship with her parents; Ratajkowski had a heartbreaking childhood for other reasons. As she shared in her book, her parents had maintained an on-again, off-again relationship for years and only married after learning that they were pregnant with Ratajkowski. Their own toxicity continued after she was born, though, and Ratajkowski became the middleman for their arguments. "After every such explosion, which usually ended with one of them leaving, the other would turn to me to plead their case or to air their grievances. I'd listen, performing my role dutifully, feeling a queasiness that would stay with me for days," she said. While Ratajkowski's parents are still together today, the model hasn't minced words about how their relationship affected her at a young age.

Some of Emily Ratajkowski's earliest acting parts were in music videos. She was in Maroon 5's video for their song "Love Somebody," and she was featured in the video for the Robin Thicke, T.I., and Pharrell Williams 2013 hit "Blurred Lines," the latter of which Ratajkowski claimed was a toxic environment. In her book "My Body," the model recounted one particularly inappropriate moment. "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," she alleged, as reported by The Sunday Times.

As Ratajkowski wrote, the video's director, Diane Martel, saw what happened, then questioned Thicke about his actions and asked if Ratajkowski was okay. "I pushed my chin forward and shrugged, avoiding eye contact, feeling the heat of humiliation pump through my body," she wrote. "I didn't react — not really, not like I should have," Ratajkowski said of her own reaction. She continued with the shoot, but she felt powerless. "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," she said. Martel has since recounted the situation, too, noting, as Ratajkowski did in her book, that Thicke was drunk at the time. Martel did not excuse his alleged behavior, telling Newsweek, "To me it felt like a terrible and creepy gesture." As of this writing, Thicke has not addressed the allegations publicly.

In 2014, Emily Ratajkowski was one of the female stars whose nude photos were leaked on the internet. The list of victims included Ratajkowski, as well as Jennifer Lawrence, Amber Heard, Kate Upton, and Gabrielle Union. This almost resulted in a $100 million lawsuit against Google and caused lots of anxiety for the women whose privacy was violated. As Ratajkowski said on an episode of her podcast "High Low with EmRata," it "was one of the most traumatizing experiences of my life. I lost a patch of hair the week it happened."

Ratajkowski said she was convinced her career would end because of the leak. The model was trying to become a more serious actor at the time, but she was met with feedback that she wouldn't be taken seriously because she had been photographed nude in the past. The leak only exacerbated Ratajkowski's fears. "There was a lot of conversation that these photos had been leaked intentionally, a lot of slut shaming. And they were extremely intimate photos; they were intended for someone that I was in love with. And it was horrible," Ratajkowski said of the scandal. Per a statement released by the company, Google removed tens of thousands of photos and shut down hundreds of accounts that were involved in the leak, but the damage to many celebrities' reputations and psyches had already been done.

Emily Ratajkowski's complete dating history includes multiple flings as well as breakups from long-term partners. Before getting married to and divorced from Sebastian Bear-McClard, Ratajkowski was in a long-term relationship with Jeff Magid. The model and the music producer reportedly dated for four years before calling it quits. Other men that she has been linked to over the years include Brad Pitt, Eric André, and Pete Davidson. In 2024, Ratajkowski was rumored to be in a relationship with Shaboozey.

Ratajkowski has been very frank about her relationship with men as a whole, much of which has been impacted by her experiences with sexual misconduct. In a 2020 essay for New York magazine, she accused photographer Jonathan Leder of assaulting her during a photoshoot and using NSFW photos she took without her consent; Leder denied the accusations. In her book, "My Body," she also shared that she was assaulted at a party when she was a teen.

"Men do usually respect other men's presence in women's lives. But I think a part of me is still scared of men," Ratajkowski said in a 2023 interview with the Los Angeles Times. She also recognizes that her traumatic experiences have affected her demeanor. "I'm like, 'Have I been hardened?' I think I'm just a little less scared now, basically, of the world. So maybe that comes off as unemotional," she said.

The Fyre Festival is arguably one of the most confounding scandals in modern Hollywood history. What, according to founder Billy McFarland, started as a way to gauge public interest in the event quickly devolved into a scam of an event that cost investors millions and landed McFarland in prison. Multiple celebrities were caught up in the scandal, too; Ja Rule was named in a $100 million lawsuit as he was one of the co-founders of the festival, and multiple models, including Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski, were sued, too, as they had promoted the event on social media.

The festival, which was marketed as a lavish experience, did not deliver on any of its promises, which prompted the lawsuits and made it into a mockery on social media. And McFarland wasn't the only person who had to pay. While Ja Rule was not convicted of any crimes nor made to pay any damages surrounding the ordeal, Jenner reportedly had to pay $90,000 for her involvement, and Ratajkowski agreed to a settlement, though the terms of which were not made public. Ratajkowski never commented on the lawsuit or the aftermath of the festival, but McFarland did issue a public apology. "I am incredibly sorry for my collective actions and will right the wrongs I have delivered to my family, friends, partners, associates and, you, the general public ... I made many wrong and immature decisions along the way and I caused agony," McFarland said to People.

People have gained from using Emily Ratajkowski's likeness many times — most of the time with her consent, but a few notable times without it. "I've had books of photos of me sold without my consent, I've had people profit off of my image — usually men — and I've got no cut off it; actually a lot of the times it's cost me money," Ratajkowski said on an episode of her podcast "High Low with EmRata" of a phenomenon that's become commonplace in her life.

In 2019, Ratajkowski posted a photo of herself that was taken by a paparazzo to Instagram, and the photographer, Robert O'Neil, sued her for copyright infringement. At the time, it had recently become common for celebrities to get sued for this very issue, and Ratajkowski decided to fight back. In an essay that Ratajkowski wrote for The Cut, the model explained why she put the picture on Instagram in the first place. "I posted the photograph of me using the bouquet as a shield on my Instagram because I liked what it said about my relationship with the paparazzi," she said. "I've become more familiar with seeing myself through the paparazzi's lenses than I am with looking at myself in the mirror. And I have learned that my image, my reflection, is not my own." In the end, Ratajkowski and O'Neil reached a settlement, keeping the lawsuit from moving any further through the court system.

After multiple failed relationships, Emily Ratajkowski seemed to finally find a steady partner in Sebastian Bear-McClard. The model and the actor were first spotted together on Valentine's Day in 2018, and by the end of February, they were married. In 2021, they welcomed a child together, and in early 2022, the duo seemed as connected as ever. However, in the summer of 2022, the spouses separated, and in September Ratajkowski filed for divorce. There was a lot of speculation about why Ratajkowski left, but a few years after the split, she quelled the rumors by opening up about what happened. 

"I didn't have the courage to leave for a long time," Ratajkowski said on an episode of "Going Mental with Eileen Kelly." "I was really, really unhappy. I was 100 pounds and I had just had a baby. I got really skinny because I was not OK. I tried everything else. I tried to take antidepressants. I was sure that something was wrong with me," she said. Ratajkowski added that her desire to have a family was one reason she stayed with McClard longer than she should've. "We have this — especially women — every piece of media we consume from the second we're born is basically this idea of finding a partner that completes and validates you," she said. "I think so much of what I've learned, coming out of that relationship, is to trust your instincts. And gaslighting is a real thing."

It was not all smooth sailing for Emily Ratajkowski after her marriage ended. In the year following Ratajkowski's split from her ex-husband, Sean Bear-McClard, she faced even more struggles, calling the time one of the "most traumatic experiences of [her] entire life," per the Los Angeles Times. While the model didn't offer too many specifics regarding what she was going through, she did note that she was afraid of losing custody of the son she shares with McClard. "We all know that the court system is really sexist. And I'm scared. I'm learning that outspoken women don't often get their children," Ratajkowski told the outlet.

Ratajkowski did note that, in the wake of her divorce, she was not concerned with anyone but herself and her son. "I'm really just not thinking about guys. I'm working, I'm a single mom. I've been so busy that it's easy not to think about," she said. And in a separate interview, she noted that she had been in therapy and made changes to feel more secure in herself and her life. "I just totally abandoned my own boundaries and my own ideas of what is important," Ratajkowski said on an episode of "Going Mental with Eileen Kelly." "Now I'm super-grounded in them. I have basically curated my life exactly to how I want it to be," she said. Ratajkowski has changed so much that she has a hard time picturing her life with a partner. "It's almost hard to imagine somebody coming in and being additive and bringing things to the table," she said.

Emily Ratajkowski has not shied away from discussing her mental health. At multiple times in her life, the model has grappled with her emotional state, and it's manifested in different ways. For example, as noted on an episode of her podcast "High Low with EmRata," it can take a physical toll. "I think trauma lives in the body, that's been my experience. I actually go the other way. When I'm really unwell, I lose so much weight. I was down to 100 pounds recently and it was really, really scary," Ratajkowski said. "And now I've gained weight and for me, it's a huge game changer, and it's how I know I'm happy," she added.

Ratajkowski also opened up about her mental health journey in 2020, noting that she went through a tremendously rough patch the year prior. "2019 was one of the hardest years of my life. My mom was really sick, I was battling a serious depression and everything felt very uncertain," Ratajkowski shared on Instagram. She added that she hoped sharing her story would be encouraging to anyone else going through similar challenges. "I wanted to share them and a little piece of my story in case they might make any of you feel less alone in the anxiety or confusion or fear you could be experiencing right now," she said.

Emily Ratajkowski hasn't had an easy go of it in Hollywood. Though she didn't dream of becoming famous, Ratajkowski has always stood out from the crowd, and she saw the work she was finding in the entertainment industry as a way to provide financial stability. "I had no plans. I wasn't thinking about a career, I was thinking about saving money. But the saving money was to be able to do what I actually wanted to do, which was make things, basically. I saw my parents, they are both creatives, but they had day jobs, so that was sort of how I saw life working," Ratajkowski said in an interview with Glamour.

Ratajkowski did become famous, though, and it wasn't quite what she had hoped for. While she did get roles in prominent films — "Gone Girl," "I Feel Pretty," and the "Entourage" film, for example — the work wasn't fulfilling, and Ratajkowski felt objectified. "I didn't feel like, 'Oh, I'm an artist performing and this is my outlet.' I felt like a piece of meat who people were judging, saying, 'Does she have anything else other than her [breasts]?'" the model said to the Los Angeles Times. The performer quit acting for a period of time afterward — her last credits for a few years came in 2019 — firing her management team in the process. "I didn't trust them. I was like, 'I can handle receiving phone calls. I'm gonna make these decisions. None of you have my best interest at heart. And you all hate women,'" she said of the executive decision. Though her hiatus was lengthy, Ratajkowski returned to Hollywood with some small roles beginning in 2023.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, or needs help with mental health, please contact the relevant resources below:

• Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
• Reach the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.