Miley Cyrus, Emily Ratajkowski, Cameron Diaz, Miranda Kerr, Margot Robbie, Shay Mitchell, Kylie Minogue, Penelope Cruz, Kristen Stewart, Uma Thurman, Rita Ora, Sophie Turner, Kelly Brook, Natalie Portman: These are just a handful of the female celebrities whose breasts are now on the internet after paparazzi photographed them sunbathing without their consent.
And Made In Chelsea’s Sophie Hermann became the latest woman to be traumatised by having her privacy invaded on holiday this week after photographers secretly took images of her topless while she was on a boat in Formentera and sold them to a tabloid.
‘My friend comes out and says, “have you seen this”,’ Sophie tells Grazia of the gut-wrenching moment she saw the story. ‘I just stared at it in disbelief and then tears landed on my face…The whole headline went into one blur, and I just thought, “surely not, this has to be a joke.”’
The crew of the boat then showed Sophie that her images had not only been published on the Daily Mail with a bar covering her boobs, but also on numerous porn sites. ‘It was a secluded beach—it didn’t even cross my mind I was being watched,’ she says. ‘I should have the right to be topless when everyone else is.’
‘My family called me and I was absolutely mortified,’ Sophie continues of the aftermath. ‘Especially with my dad. I’m ashamed — I know I shouldn’t feel shame, but I do. I just think it’s horrible for my father to see his daughter extorted like that.’
The Daily Mail soon changed their headline and took down the images. But alongside the porn sites who’d published the uncensored photos, the story had gone global. ‘It was too little too late,’ says Sophie. ‘It was copied by thousands of other internet sites and publications. It’s in America, Australia, it’s everywhere in Ireland and Scotland. [It's] in Germany, where my family lives.’
Sophie also says she’s furious on behalf of her (non-celebrity) friend who was sitting next to her when the photos were taken and is now also topless across the internet. ‘I blamed myself,’ Sophie says. ‘This would have never happened without me.’
Two days after the pictures were published online, the physical impact on Sophie is severe: ‘I have body issues now,’ she says. ‘The comments are horrible… the stress has given me eczema, I’m not eating, I’ve got cold sores all over my face—It’s taking its toll on me… I'm reliving this moment every f**king second.’
When Kate Middleton was photographed topless by a private chateau’s swimming pool in Provence in 2017, she sued the French paparazzi and successfully won £91,000 of damages. And after her experience, Sophie hopes she can change the long term regulations around topless images: ‘I’m trying to turn this isn’t something powerful and positive,’ she says. ‘That’s the only thing I can do to prevent me falling into a deep depression.’
‘To pass a new law is the goal,’ she explains. ‘Then women would actually have to give their consent. It should be up to everyone individually — because some people might want those pictures online and that’s completely up to them. But I should be able to do what everyone else does without being extorted all over the internet. This is 2022 and you should not be able to do this to someone whether they’re in the public eye or not.’
‘The ultimate vengeance would be to make a change,' she says. 'I want to create a new, safer, environment for women — including myself.’