Emily Ratajkowski has reached out to a comedian, asking her to quit copying her Instagram style.
At 32, Ratajkowski has built a notable career as a model and actress, first catching eyes on Nickelodeon’s iCarly and later appearing in big-screen hits like Gone Girl and We Are Your Friends.
Beyond movies, she’s probably on your radar from the catchy beats of Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams’s ‘Blurred Lines’ video.
Yet, these days, it’s her sizzling Instagram posts that are drawing attention—not just from fans, but from a comedian who’s made a name for herself by spoofing celebrity photos.
While many chuckle over these parodies, it seems Ratajkowski isn’t laughing. She’s made it clear she wants them to stop.
The comedian in question, Australian Celeste Barber, is known for her humorous take on celebrity glamour shots, having also spoofed stars like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian.
In 2021, Barber shared a photo mimicking Ratajkowski’s pose, captioned: “We are sick of you objectifying our bodies! Also, here’s my a**.”
However, Ratajkowski seems less than amused by the comedic imitation.
Speaking on Australia’s Nova radio show Fitzy and Wippa, Barber revealed: “I don’t think Emily is a fan. That’s OK, she’s allowed to not love it. But she blocked me.”
Ratajkowski has previously voiced concerns that her modeling work has been a double-edged sword professionally.
She expressed to USA Today, “I’ve gone in for roles and producers tell me I’m too pretty to play a role. That’s so crazy and frustrating. You can’t get a part because they’ve seen too many pictures of you being a model. It’s an industry and people see what they’ve seen before. It takes a lot for someone to take a risk on you.”
She also explored this theme in her book, ‘My Body’.
“It had never occurred to me that the women who gained their power from beauty were indebted to the men whose desire granted them that power in the first place,” she penned, according to the New York Post.
“Those men were the ones in control, not the women the world fawned over.”
On her podcast, High Low with EmRata, Ratajkowski addressed the parody situation directly.
“This whole drama with Celeste has been blown out of proportion. In general, I find her to be really funny. But, [the] message I was trying to send to her was, ‘I just don’t want you to do this to me anymore’,” she explained.
“[I want] to be able to do my thing, whether that be writing about my terrifying experiences in an industry that doesn’t protect women and young girls and femme-presenting people while also having a bathing suit line.”
Ratajkowski also penned an article in The Cut titled ‘Bringing Myself Back’, discussing the unauthorized use of her image.
“I was like, I’m not giving her my consent for this joke anymore. It just landed at a specific time for me,” she remarked.
Ratajkowski pointed out the broader issue facing female influencers: “We really love to pick on female influencers like they are considered the trash, lamest, most cringe, most embarrassing people on the planet.
“I fundamentally find that to be sexist. Yeah, no s*** women want to be influencers – it’s one of the ways that women have learned to be successful and make money. They’re hustling.”
Barber, for her part, continues to share her thoughts unapologetically.
She told Marie Claire: “I like running my mouth off. I do it a lot. I’m quick-witted – it’s one of my favourite things about me.
“I don’t like that I feel I can’t do that as much, and yeah I do feel like I censor myself sometimes. But then other times I don’t give a f*** and I operate from a place of already being cancelled.
“I mean good luck to them. You can’t win. They hate what you do one day, then you’re the greatest thing in the world the next day.”