Emily Ratajkowski "felt like a piece of meat" while acting in Hollywood.
Ratajkowski, 31, landed her first big role in 2014 as Ben Affleck's mistress in the psychological thriller film "Gone Girl." Following the role, the model set out to prove she was a "serious actress with longevity."
"But 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]?’" Ratajkowski told the Los Angeles Times.
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After starring in films such as "We Are Your Friends," "I Feel Pretty" and "Lying and Stealing," she chose to turn her back on Hollywood.
Ratajkowski grew tired of making herself "digestible to powerful men in Hollywood" and fired her agent, manager and commercial rep in early 2020.
"I didn’t trust them," the model told the outlet. "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 released a book of personal essays, titled "My Body," in 2021. The book explored her experiences in the modeling industry and revealed her thoughts on feminism among other topics.
In one essay, she wrote about a Hollywood party she attended with her then-husband, Sean Bear-McClard. According to Entertainment Weekly, Ratajkowski claimed her husband's "drunk" agent told her she was "like Pamela Anderson before the hep C."
"I thought about the way that [Bear-McClard] had glided through the room, a room full of men who only two years before had been kissing Harvey Weinstein's ring and encouraging their young female clients to take meetings with him in hotel rooms," Ratajkowski wrote. "I hated that my husband was at all connected to these men."
The model told the Los Angeles Times, "Maybe that's why right now I'm not really interested in men's POVs. Because they were lies. And I don't mean infidelity. This is a f---ed up world. Like, Hollywood is f---ed up. And it's dark… That was what that essay was about."
Ratajkowski filed for divorce from film producer Bear-McClard last year, after four years of marriage.
The "My Body" author also commented on the photos of her making out with Harry Styles that surfaced in March.
"There’s a million insane, inaccurate things about my relationships [that are said]," Ratajkowski noted.
"I’m definitely still not thinking about guys," she added. "Although, yeah. You know, sometimes things just happen."
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Ratajkowski began modeling at the age of 14. She did not become a household name until 2013, when she appeared topless in the controversial "Blurred Lines" music video.
Since then, she has become a runway model walking alongside Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid. Most recently, she appeared in Versace and Tory Burch ad campaigns.